(Image source: Rue89.com)
BY BRICE SANDER
The MegaUpload melodrama continues. As more information about the business-- and the man behind it-- comes to light, the media lets the story play out like a blockbuster movie.
PC World calls it an unbelievable story filled with drama…
FastCompany dubs it a modern-day take on the wild, wild west…
And The Toronto Sun says it's a “high octane” thrill ride.
Here’s CNN.
“At a swank mansion in Auckland, New Zealand, a vintage Cadillac, other high end vehicles worth millions are hauled away. The man living there arrested, police say, after barricading himself in a safe room and being found next to a shotgun.”
The man, Kim Dotcom-- formerly Kim Schmitz-- is under arrest for alleged money laundering, racketeering and breach of copyright on the popular file-sharing site, which he founded in 2005.
The arrest came straight out of a movie. Helicopters and 76 officers swooped in on Dotcom’s $24 million mansion in the middle of his 38th birthday party. ‘The Daily Mail nicknames him ‘Dr. Evil.’ (YouTube/TCG)
“[He] made £27million from MegaUpload in 2010 … Dotcom was granted New Zealand residency despite his criminal background after investing £5million in government bonds and making a generous donation to the Christchurch earthquake fund.”
Police seized more than $9 million in cash along with Dotcom’s collection of luxury cars in the raid. As The Wall Street Journal suggests, he wasn’t a shy guy.
“He actually wrote a blog post for a popular file-sharing blog in December where he sent along a photo of himself carrying a shotgun, or rifle I think, in front of one of his luxury cars that had the license plate on the front, ‘GUILTY.’”
A big twist here is MegaUpload’s music industry connection. Reports surfaced saying the MegaUpload named music producer Swizz Beatz- Alicia Keys’ husband- its CEO right before the government take down. As the New York Post reports- Beatz finds himself in a sticky situation.
“…Beatz believes he may be questioned by the FBI and is considering hiring a criminal defense lawyer. If convicted, the arrested executives could face up to 50 years in prison for the largest copyright case in history.”
Beatz’s team is now investigating whether the file-sharing site ever legally employed him. All this comes in the middle of the biggest battle against online piracy ever -- the SOPA act controversy and protests -- but Bloomberg says it’s just a confusing coincidence.
“You can’t coordinate a massive raid in Auckland because, oh wait, Wikipedia’s going to do it this day, let’s do it two days later. Also, it’s not clear what it really tells us about SOPA. On the one had, wait- they happened to arrest these guys, so what do we need this new legislation for?”
Dotcom and three other executives now await trial and possible extradition to the United States. Their defense attorney? The same guy who represented Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky years.
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