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New Zealand Court Clears Kim Dotcom's Extradition to US

New Zealand’s Court of Appeal has dismissed a challenge by entrepreneur Kim Dotcom against extradition to the United States on criminal copyright infringement charges.
Sputnik

The court said it had declined "applications for leave to adduce further evidence on appeal" filed by the founder of the file-sharing Megaupload website and three co-defendants – Mathias Ortmann, Bram Van Der Kolk and Finn Habib Batato.

Kim Dotcom said in a statement, published on his Twitter page, that he was "extremely disappointed" by the court’s decision and promised to take the matter to the Supreme Court.

Kim Dotcom’s Last Ditch Effort to Avoid Extradition to the US
The United States accuses the four of systematic copyright infringement that cost copyright owners over $500 million in losses.

According to the ruling, the site experienced enormous growth since 2008, generating over $175 million in revenues, and at one point accounted for four percent of global internet traffic, offering content to some 50 million users daily. It was eventually shut down in 2012.

The United States has been seeking the extradition of Dotcom and his executives since 2012 on 13 charges, including fraud and copyright infringement. The latter is not considered a crime worthy of extradition in New Zealand, even though US authorities claim copyright owners lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to Megaupload's illegal activities. Dotcom is likely to face a 20-year prison sentence in the US over the piracy charges. 

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