Dotcom: US might not want to pursue extradition
Kim Dotcom expects the United States Justice Department to review the case against him following the election of President Donald Trump.
High Court judge Murray Gilbert has been deliberating for five months on whether to uphold or overturn a district court ruling that approved Dotcom’s extradition to the US on copyright and racketeering charges.
Justice Gilbert’s ruling had not necessarily been expected to be the final word on extradition, as the losing party would likely have the right to take the case to the Court of Appeal and, potentially, the Supreme Court.
But Dotcom said he was not sure the Trump Administration would have the appetite to appeal if the High Court ruled in his favour.
Trump pick Jeff Sessions, 70, was confirmed by the US Senate as the country’s new attorneygeneral yesterday afternoon, New Zealand time, despite an outcry from civil rights groups concerned by his past statements on racial issues.
‘‘He will have to look at their most complicated cases and mine is definitely going to be one of them, and then we have to see if they still have an appetite to keep it going,’’ Dotcom said.
Dotcom was encouraged by the time it was taking Justice Gilbert to finalise his ruling, after the High Court hearings in September.
‘‘The longer it takes the better because if the judge was just going to say, ‘Yes, everything the District Court said was fine,’ then that would be a two- week process.’’
Dotcom tweeted against Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton during the US presidential election campaign but would not say whether he had approached the Trump Administration about his case.
‘‘Obviously I have the best lawyers money can buy in the US and they are always a step ahead of what is happening,’’ he said.
‘‘They are making approaches and reaching out, but I don’t want to go into specifics about that.’’
Dotcom and co-defendants Mathias Ortmann, Fin Batato and Bram van der Kolk have been accused of ripping off studios and publishers to the tune of more than US$500 million by intentionally facilitating piracy through their Megaupload online storage service.
They have denied any criminal intent. The prosecution would be a test case and one of the issues that the High Court may need to grapple with is whether any of the alleged offences, if proven, would be extraditable.
Dotcom maintains that Hollywood interests – fronted by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) – lobbied the Obama Administration to bring criminal charges against him and his Megaupload business in 2011 as a price for Hollywood’s continued support for the Democratic Party.
‘‘Trump is definitely not a fan of Hollywood,’’ Dotcom said.
‘‘The whole liberal left in California, the music people, and the movie people are all against him. [Trump supporters] call them ‘snowflakes’.’’