NZ COURT RUES KIM DOTCOM COULD BE EXTRADITED TO U.S. TO FACE RAPS

A long-running court battle to extradite Kim Dotcom to the United States has stalled following a court ruling in New Zealand, Rebekah Lyell reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

The 46-year-old German-born entrepreneur Dotcom, along with business associates Matthias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato, has been fighting the extradition since Dotcom's former home in Auckland was raided by New Zealand police in 2012. 

US authorities have been trying to extradite the group to face charges related to the now defunct file-sharing website Megaupload. A judge ruled they could be extradited to the US in 2015, and the group challenged the ruling with a judicial review. The review was dismissed by the High Court in 2017 and the Court of Appeal in 2018. 

However, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said the arguments must be allowed before a final decision is made, which means Dotcom stays in New Zealand. Ron Mansfield, a member of Dotcom’s defense team, released a written statement after the ruling was made. It was a “mixed bag” for Dotcom and his family, with “no final determination” that he was to go to the United States, Mansfield said. “However, the Court has not accepted our important copyright argument and in our view has made significant determinations that will have an immediate and chilling impact on the internet.”