German-born internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom and three of his colleagues can be extradited to the U.S. to face trial, the New Zealand High Court said in a ruling that was released on Monday.
The U.S. has been seeking Dotcom’s extradition on 13 counts including conspiracy to commit racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering and wire fraud since 2012 when they were arrested.
The court ruled against Dotcom and his former colleagues Mathias Ortmann, Bram Kolk and Finn Batato on charges relating to the operations of Dotcom’s former file-sharing website Megaupload.
Dotcom’s legal team described the outcome as “extremely disappointing.”
Counsel to the trio, Ron Mansfield said that they would appeal against the ruling.
“We are far from defeated” and that the decision would now go to the Court of Appeal.
The lawyer said that he was confident that the case would be resolved in Kim’s favour.
Dotcom said he expected the case would be before New Zealand courts for at least two more years.
“We’ll be looking at a seven-year total timeframe before there is a final resolution on this matter. I am now more confident than ever that we will prevail,” he said.
They could face decades in jail if extradited to the U.S. and found guilty.
The High Court found that although the December 2015 decision was flawed, the errors in the judgment were immaterial.
One of the central issues in the case was whether Megaupload’s copyright infringements were a criminal offence in New Zealand.
“The High Court has held that it is not, contrary to the conclusion reached in the District Court.
The appellants have therefore succeeded with one of the main planks of their case,” the statement said.
However, the High Court found that a conspiracy to commit copyright infringement amounts to a conspiracy to defraud and was therefore an extradition offence. (dpa/NAN)
