Department Of Justice Report Details Case Against Kim Dotcom, Former Megaupload Leaders

Kim Dotcom, the man behind Mega, the successor of the now-defunct Megaupload, has been the subject of a long-lived investigation, the details of which were revealed today in a 191-page report by the Department of Justice. The seven defendants in the case, among them being Dotcom, are currently located in New Zealand, and have been hit with many charges, including copyright infringement.

In the report, the Department of Justice details various pieces of evidence, including information from emails and Skype conversations that took place between Megaupload's various higher ups. The website, which was taken down following Dotcom's arrest early last year, is said to have to generated in excess of $25 million in revenue through advertising per month, and approximately $150 million through its subscription fees.

Said the site's programming director to the CTO in one Skype conversation, "If copyright holders would really know how big our business is they would surely try to do something against it." According to the defendants' attorney Ira P. Rothken, none of them are available to comment. At the present time, the defendants are fighting against extradition to the United States.

Megaupload was a hot target for the MPAA, which has been going after file sharers and sharing websites for years. Not helping their case, the DoJ report shows another excerpt from the website's executives quoting Van der Kolk and Ortmann as saying, "We're modern pirates :-) ... People will always share files and download their stuff for free." Thus far, due to their being located in New Zealand, none of the defendants have appeared in US court.

SOURCE: Wall Street Journal