Summarised by Centrist
In September 2011 New Zealand police initiated an investigation into Kim Dotcom at the request of the FBI.
Nearly 13 years later Dotcom’s extradition to the US has been signed off by Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith.
The case has made headlines from the raid on Dotcom’s mansion in January 2012, where he and his Megaupload associates were arrested, to revelations of illegal spying by the GCSB, and a Supreme Court ruling in 2020, which paved the way for his extradition.
“I won’t get a fair hearing in the US,” Dotcom has argued against what he describes as an overreach of American judicial power.
The protracted legal battle has not only drawn attention to issues of digital privacy and the reach of US law enforcement but has also led to political fallout in New Zealand, including a domestic spying scandal that rocked the government.
