MOSCOW, February 20 (Sputnik) – Megaupload, a file-sharing and storage website, had been offering pirated content to approximately 50 million daily users until 2012, when its servers were shut down and its founder, German internet mogul Dotcom, was arrested in his New Zealand mansion.
New Zealand High Court Justice Murray Gilbert said that Dotcom and three Megaupload executives — Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato — could be extradited to the United States as there were "general criminal law fraud provisions" which made the extradition valid, according to the New Zealand Herald.
The United States has sought the extradition of Dotcom and his executives since 2012; they face 13 charges, including fraud and copyright infringement. The latter is not considered worthy of extradition in New Zealand, while the US authorities claim copyright owners lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to Megaupload's illegal activities. The United States is likely to convict Dotcom and sentence him to 20 years in prison for piracy.
