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New Zealand courts say US authorities don’t need to disclose any more evidence ahead of MegaUpload extradition hearings

By | Published on Friday 21 March 2014

Kim Dotcom

The Supreme Court in New Zealand has dealt a blow to MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom by ruling that the US authorities do not have to share any more of their evidence ahead of an extradition hearing.

As much previously reported, America wants to extradite Dotcom and other former MegaUpload execs living in New Zealand to face criminal charges of copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering in relation to their now defunct business. The US authorities shut down the original MegaUpload in January 2012, though Dotcom has since launched new companies Mega and Baboom.

Dotcom’s extradition hearing in New Zealand has been postponed several times due to various legal technicalities, not least claims by the MegaUpload founder’s lawyers that the Americans should share much of the evidence against their client before any court session. Team Mega reckon that the US don’t actually have a criminal case against Dotcom, and if he only faced civil proceedings in America extradition wouldn’t be an option.

But the New Zealand Supreme Court has ruled that the US does not need to disclose any more of its evidence at this stage, it having published some of its Mega files back in December. The top court confirmed that a lower court ruling ordered full disclosure was wrong.

Following an earlier separate ruling that said that the police raid on Dotcom’s home back in January 2012 was legal, even though the warrants used weren’t quite right, it may now be that the various legal quibblings are done with. Which might mean the much postponed extradition hearing, most recently put back to 7 Jul, might now finally go ahead.



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