Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

He asked whether “you guys just drive around in modified electric vehicles and pose for photos,” referring to an image Mr. Dotcom, 38, had just posted showing three of his associates with golf buggies and a Segway. “I could live like that,” Mr. Gracewood wrote.

Twenty minutes later he got a surprising response: “Come over now!” So he took a friend and went to the most expensive house in the country — a mansion worth 30 million New Zealand dollars, or $24 million, rented by Mr. Dotcom, a German citizen — for a swim and some cupcakes. Twitter users across New Zealand watched with fascination as the group posted updates and photos of the visit.

That evening, which was followed on Twitter under #swimatkims , was just the latest in a series of at times bizarre developments in a case that has turned Mr. Dotcom into something of a cult hero since his arrest.

In January, two police helicopters landed on his lawn to raid the property just north of Auckland. At that time, most of the country had never heard of Mr. Dotcom, despite his flamboyance and wealth. He had kept a low profile in the two years he had been living in this country of about 4.4 million people.

The police operation — carried out under New Zealand’s extradition treaty with the United States — seemed designed to attract attention. It was accompanied by uncharacteristically detailed news releases describing the operation, including how officers had cut their way into a panic room to arrest Mr. Dotcom, who, they said, was found sitting near a shotgun.

Mr. Dotcom — born Kim Schmitz and also known as Kimble and Kim Tim Jim Vestor — and three others connected with Megaupload were arrested in connection with U.S. indictments on charges involving copyright infringement and money laundering. At the time, the U.S. Department of Justice said that in all, seven people had been arrested around the world in connection with an investigation into online piracy of numerous copyrighted works, including music and films.

The Justice Department said the individuals and two companies — Megaupload and Vestor — had been charged with “engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, conspiring to commit money laundering and two substantive counts of criminal copyright infringement.”

This month, Mr. Dotcom’s U.S. lawyers are set to appear before a Virginia judge in a bid to have the criminal case against the company dismissed. According to a document on his lawyers’ Web site, they will argue, among other points, that the indictments are invalid because they must be submitted to a company’s U.S. office, which Megaupload has never had.

Even if it is successful, the case against Mr. Dotcom and the other defendants would proceed.

The four men arrested in New Zealand are still free on bail, awaiting an extradition hearing, which is scheduled to begin Aug. 6.

Mr. Dotcom has had other brushes with the law. He was convicted of insider trading in Germany in 2002 in what was at the time the largest such case.

Among the items seized by the police in the January raids were 18 luxury vehicles worth 6 million dollars — including a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe and a 1959 pink Cadillac — computers and as much as 11 million dollars in cash.

Mr. Dotcom said in an e-mail interview that he had been treated badly by the New Zealand police and the government, which he said he believed was simply kowtowing to U.S. requests.

“Two helicopters and 76 heavily armed officers to arrest a man alleged of copyright crimes — think about that,” he wrote. “Hollywood is importing their movie scripts into the real world and sends armed forces to protect their outdated business model.”

In February, the New Zealand police defended the operation, saying it had been in line with a risk assessment and there had been only “20 or 30” officers involved in the raid on the mansion.

After a month of prison, Mr. Dotcom was eventually granted bail, despite prosecutors’ arguments that he was a serious flight risk. Over the following months his lawyers won a series of hearings to loosen the bail conditions and free up some of his confiscated cash to cover expenses.

The biggest victory came last Thursday, when a High Court judge ruled the New Zealand police had used the wrong type of search warrant, so the entire raid had been illegal. Mr. Dotcom’s lawyers are due back in the Auckland High Court on Wednesday, seeking the return of seized assets and data.

Gavin Ellis, a senior political studies lecturer at the University of Auckland, said that over time the public had become less supportive of the police operation.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: July 3, 2012

An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect value for the house that Kim Dotcom rents in New Zealand. It is $24 million, not $30.7 million.

View the original article here