Kim Dotcom loved doing business in Hong Kong, but the local court decided to authorize the seizure of $42 million of Dotcom’s money two years ago. Dotcom continues to fight for his money, arguing that justice officials misled the courts.
Kim Dotcom has a lot of issues in the New Zealand courts. His case has been traversing the legal system for many months. Aside from the main issue of the entrepreneur’s possible extradition to the US, much of the fight has centered on his money. While Dotcom was trying to reclaim his assets, the American content industry has been trying to lock them down in preparation for any future damages payout. The fights are ongoing in New Zealand, the United States and even in Hong Kong, where Dotcom is trying to take back his $42.55m that was seized by local authorities when the well-known MegaUpload hosting service was closed down almost 3 years ago.
It turns out that a hundred of customs officers on the allegations of copyright violation and money laundering raided the MegaUpload chief’s Hong Kong offices. The seized assets are now under a restraining order, which Dotcom argues should be set aside. 6 months ago, MegaUpload launched legal action against the government and accused the secretary for justice of failing to provide a full and frank disclosure of the facts. In other words, they claim that the restraining order should be set aside because the court has misrepresented the true position.
Kim Dotcom claimed that the prosecution deliberately withheld crucial data from the court when applying for the restraining order, for example that MegaUpload couldn’t be served with a criminal complaint in the US.
Just before MegaUpload was shut down, Kim Dotcom spoke warmly of Hong Kong, saying that he could write a whole book about how it’s good to do business in that country. But a few days later, his fate was sealed in a matter of minutes. In just about 6 or 7 minutes, the applicant has dealt with the position of 9 defendants and managed to freeze a massive amount of money.
So, if this case is decided in MegaUpload’s favor, there could be huge implications for Kim Dotcom. Not only could he regain millions of dollars, but he could also be in a position to file a multi-billion dollar civil claim for damages. In January 2012, just before being closed down, MegaUpload was valued at 2 billion dollars.
