Megaupload's Dotcom loses bail appeal
Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has lost his appeal bid to be released on bail.
The alleged internet piracy supremo was arrested in New Zealand in January in an FBI-coordinated international crackdown, aimed at shutting down the file-sharing service and seizing its assets.
The German Dotcom, whose original name was Schmitz, lost his first bail application on 25 January. His lawyers immediately launched an appeal, but on Friday an Auckland High Court judge turned down the request.
According to the New Zealand Herald, Justice Raynor Asher said there was nothing to tie Dotcom to New Zealand, apart from wanting to fight the case and retrieve his assets. Dotcom himself has pointed out that his heavily pregnant wife and young children are in New Zealand.
Asher also said that it was possible the FBI had not frozen all of Dotcom's funds, so he might still try to flee. If he were to make it back to Germany, he would be safe from extradition as Germany never extradites its own citizens.
In televised footage, Dotcom was shown testifying in his own defence, saying that when the police raided his home, the reason he escaped into his fortified panic room was that he thought he was about to fall victim to an intruder.
Once he realised it was the police that had entered his rented mansion, he said, he stayed in the panic room because he thought it unwise to suddenly emerge and surprise them. In the event, Dotcom claimed on the stand, police officers punched him in the face and kicked him.
In his testimony, Dotcom also claimed that he had been approached in jail by an expert forger who offered to make him fake travel documents, as well as a court prosecutor who offered to help him win bail. He said he had told them to "go to hell".
"I have absolutely no desire to breach any condition that is given to me," Dotcom said. "I will not run away. I want to fight these allegations on a level playing field and have a fair chance to defend myself."
The allegations include those of copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering. Several are conspiracy charges, which carry jail sentences of up to 20 years each. The US wants Dotcom and several other defendants extradited there to face trial.