Bram van der Kolk, suspect in the lawsuit surrounding ingredient service Megaupload, will not be extradited to the United States. As part of a settlement with New Zealand and US authorities he will be charged in New Zealand where he lives.
There has been a lawsuit for years against Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, his right-hand man Mathias Ortmann and chief programmer Van der Kolk. They are suspected in the US of copyright infringement and money laundering.
In 2012, Megaupload was taken offline by order of the FBI. The American film industry is said to have lost almost 500 million euros because illegal copies of films were shared via the service. The three now all live in New Zealand, where they are challenging the extradition.
Now, after ten years, Van der Kolk and Ortmann have made a deal with the authorities there. “New Zealand is now our home and we want to stay here,” they wrote in a joint statement. “The ongoing uncertainty surrounding the extradition case has taken its toll and we want to move forward.”
The suspects are being charged in New Zealand for similar offenses for which they are being prosecuted in the US. Once the New Zealand courts have heard the charges, the US will withdraw its extradition proceedings against the men. It is not known exactly when that will happen.
Founder Megaupload clings to innocence
Kim Dotcom did not make a deal with authorities, but did respond to Twitter† “I congratulate my former friends and partners for finding a solution to this matter,” he wrote. “They can avoid the terrible American justice system. I’m happy for them and I wish them all the best.”
Dotcom now says it is the last man left “in this fight”. “I will continue to fight, because unlike my co-defendants, I will not accept the injustice that has been done to us. If I have to go to jail for what Megaupload users did on our site, many directors of major tech companies are in the same boat as I.”