by WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Two men charged by U.S. prosecutors with extortion and other crimes for their involvement with the once-popular file-sharing website Megaupload said Tuesday they reached a deal to avoid extradition to the United States. in exchange for facing charges in New Zealand.
The treatment of former Megaupload officials Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk means that only Megaupload’s flamboyant founder Kim Dotcom, who also lives in New Zealand, still faces the possibility of extradition to the US in the case of Long duration.
US authorities shut down Megaupload in 2012, saying it raised at least $175 million, mostly from people using it to illegally download songs, TV shows and movies. The Department of Justice describes it as the largest criminal copyright case in US history.
Facing decades in US prisons if convicted, Dotcom and the other two men have fought extradition through New Zealand’s legal system for the past 10 years.
Last year, the New Zealand Supreme Court ruled that the trio could be extradited. But it was left to Justice Minister Kris Faafoi to make a final decision on extradition. And even that decision could be appealed.
In a statement issued through their attorney Peter Spring, Ortmann and van der Kolk said the continued uncertainty of the case had taken a heavy toll on their lives and the time had come to move on.
“Accordingly, we have reached an agreement with the Government of New Zealand and the United States of America under which we agree to be charged in New Zealand for crimes similar to those we face in the United States.”
The couple added that New Zealand was now their home “and we want to stay here.”
Dotcom’s lawyers and the other men have long argued that if anyone was at fault in the case, it was the site’s users who chose to pirate the material, not the founders. But prosecutors say the men were the architects of a vast criminal enterprise.
Dotcom and the other two men were once close friends but had a falling out after setting up a new company, Mega, following Megaupload’s closure.
In a series of tweets Tuesday, Dotcom said his former friends would become witnesses against him as part of his deal, but he didn’t blame them.
“I want to congratulate my former friends and associates for finding a resolution to the case,” Dotcom wrote. “They can avoid the terrible American justice system. I am happy for them. After 10 years of US law, I understand why they have given up. I don’t blame them and I sincerely wish them all the best.”
Dotcom promised to continue fighting the case.
“I will not accept the injustice we have been subjected to,” he wrote. “If I have to go to jail for what Megaupload users did on our site, then a lot of Big Tech CEOs are in the same boat as me.”
US prosecutors had earlier withdrawn their extradition offer against a fourth company officer who was arrested in New Zealand, Finn Batato.
In 2015, Megaupload computer programmer Andrus Nomm of Estonia pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit felony copyright infringement and was sentenced to one year and one day in US federal prison. USA
