New Zealand yesterday agreed to extradite 50-year-old Kim Schmitz—also known as Kim Dotcom—to the US. The signed order comes after 12 years of legal disputes; Dotcom has vowed to fight it.
Dotcom is the German-born founder and former CEO of the now-defunct website Megaupload. (He was also once a hacker and the No. 1 Call of Duty player in the world.) Operational from 2005 to 2012, Megaupload allowed users to share pirated movie and music files, at one point becoming the internet's 13th most popular site, responsible for 4% of all traffic. Megaupload allegedly raked in more than $175M in revenue, powered by advertisements and premium subscription fees.
In 2012, the Justice Department indicted Dotcom on copyright infringement, money laundering, and racketeering charges, alleging his actions cost the film and music industry over $500M. Dotcom faces a maximum US prison sentence of 55 years. Watch a profile of Dotcom here.
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