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posted by janrinok on Friday June 05 2015, @01:31AM   Printer-friendly
from the another-3-months... dept.

Kim Dotcom has temporarily halted the forfeiture of $67 million in seized assets to New Zealand pending a judicial review:

After claiming that assets seized during the 2012 raid on Megaupload were obtained through copyright and money laundering crimes, last July the U.S. government asked the court to forfeit bank accounts, cars and other seized possessions connected to the site's operators. Dotcom and his co-defendants protested, but the Government deemed them fugitives and therefore disentitled to seek relief from the court. As a result District Court Judge Liam O'Grady ordered a default judgment in favor of the U.S. Government against assets worth an estimated $67m.

Following a subsequent request from the U.S., New Zealand's Commissioner of Police moved to have the U.S. forfeiture orders registered locally, meaning that the seized property would become the property of the Crown. Authorization from the Deputy Solicitor-General was granted April 9, 2015 and an application for registration was made shortly after. In response, Kim Dotcom and co-defendant Bram Van der Kolk requested a judicial review of the decision and sought interim orders that would prevent the Commissioner from progressing the registration application, pending a review. The Commissioner responded with an application to stop the judicial review.

In a lengthy decision handed down this morning, Justice Ellis denied the application of the Commissioner while handing a significant interim victory to Kim Dotcom. Noting that the "fugitive disentitlement" doctrine forms no part of New Zealand common law, Justice Ellis highlighted the predicament faced by those seeking to defend themselves while under its constraints.

[...] "The big fights are yet to come and I can't wait to expose the US government and Hollywood for the most unlawful and corrupt law enforcement action ever taken against an Internet service provider. US attorney Jay Prabhu, the DOJ clown who lost control of the Megaupload domain recently, will only find a job at the MPAA after we are done with him," Dotcom concludes.

[More after the break...]

New Zealand's Security Intelligence Service chief Rebecca Kitteridge apologized to Kim Dotcom over the weekend after insulting emails were obtained by the New Zealand Herald:

Security Intelligence Service chief Rebecca Kitteridge has apologised to Kim Dotcom for the behaviour of her spies, who swapped emails about the internet entrepreneur's weight and wife while mocking his chances of getting New Zealand residency. An extraordinary cache of emails has emerged from an Official Information Act request by the Weekend Herald, including one in which an SIS staff member sends a picture of Dotcom to others, saying, "What a fatty po po." [...] Ms Kitteridge's apology is the second Dotcom has secured from the intelligence agencies. The Government Communications Security Bureau had to say sorry in 2012 after it was caught carrying out illegal surveillance.

Last month, Dotcom was awarded millions drawn from his seized funds in order to pay for accrued legal expenses, as well as a $128,000 monthly stipend for ongoing expenses. Dotcom's U.S. extradition hearing has been delayed to no earlier than September 1, 2015.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by arslan on Friday June 05 2015, @04:35AM

    by arslan (3462) on Friday June 05 2015, @04:35AM (#192372)

    US attorney Jay Prabhu, ... will only find a job at the MPAA after we are done with him," Dotcom concludes

    He make that sound like its a bad fate, far from it, it was probably the goal from the get go, retire from public service into a cushy job with the mob.

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