A Judge in New Zealand has ordered Kim Dotcom, the founder of Megaupload and failed crypto payments processor Bitcache, to be extradited to the US 12 years after his arrest.
New Zealand justice minister Paul Goldsmith ordered the extradition on Thursday, saying “I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the US to face trial.”
Despite this, Kim Dotcom claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that he doesn’t intend to leave New Zealand.
Dotcom, real name Kim Schmitz, was arrested on his birthday in 2012 for his role in one of the largest filing-sharing sites in the noughties, Megaupload.
He later founded the crypto startup Bitcache which promised to be the “preferred payment option” by 2022. However, it never officially launched and went into liquidation in 2023 due to unpaid legal fees.
When announcing its liquidation, Schmitz said Bitcache would become a new project called Fileshop that would be a “Bitcoin Cash killer app.”
Read more: CHART: Every Do Kwon extradition twist and turn
Schmitz has also released an album, uploaded various music videos, and performed as a DJ. His website also claims he’s still number one on the leaderboard for kills in the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
He faces charges of racketeering, money laundering, copyright infringement on an industrial scale, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Protos has reached out to Schmitz to clarify what he plans to do next.
