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Kim Dotcom Sues New Zealand For $6.8 Billion In Damages Over Erroneous Arrest (torrentfreak.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the fighting-extradition dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Kim Dotcom, the founder of file-sharing site Megaupload, is suing the New Zealand government for billions of dollars in damages over his arrest in 2012. The internet entrepreneur is fighting extradition to the U.S. to stand trial for copyright infringement and fraud. Mr Dotcom says an invalid arrest warrant negated all charges against him. He is seeking damages for destruction to his business and loss of reputation. Accountants calculate that the Megaupload group of companies would be worth $10 billion today, had it not been shut down during the raid. As he was a 68% shareholder in the business, Mr Dotcom has asked for damages going up to $6.8 billion. He is also considering taking similar action against the Hong Kong government. As stated in documents filed with the High Court, Mr Dotcom is also seeking damages for: all lost business opportunities since 2012, his legal costs, loss of investments he made to the mansion he was renting, his lost opportunity to purchase the mansion, and loss of reputation.

5 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Bring it on big guy. by MoaDweeb · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yeah the Police didn't have a valid warrant, spied on him illegally and chucked his MittleEurope ass in pokey.

    That's all fine 'cos they were doing the bidding of The Mouse and our Govt was only too keen to dry hump the US Govt's leg.
    Got one of our previous Prime Minister's a number of golf games with ex-Pres. Obama though.

    However I think his chance of getting through or not being deported are slim. Although he has seen off 2 PMs thus far maybe he will see off a third?

    --
    New Zealanders are well balanced with a chip on each shoulder. One represents Australia, the other the rest of the world
    1. Re:Bring it on big guy. by MoaDweeb · · Score: 5, Interesting

      However the NZ Govt did illegally clone a whole bunch of servers etc. and send them to the US.
      Whilst -as has been correctly pointed out- breached no New Zealand laws and the Fat German (who at the tome was a NZ resident and now citizen BTW) had never been to the US.

      To be fair this is not really an Obama thing but more a Joe Biden thing. Apparently he is the one in the pocket of Big Media but Obama still gave the go-ahead and played golf with his mate John Key.

      Interesting that the right-wing party in NZ -National- has so much in common with the Democrats, putatively the US 'left'.
      Our main 'left' party (Labour) is the one that ate all the free trade bullshot of Thatcher and Reagan back in the late '80s.

      --
      New Zealanders are well balanced with a chip on each shoulder. One represents Australia, the other the rest of the world
  2. Sovereign immunity? by SLi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Isn't there an equivalent of sovereign immunity in New Zealand? If I understand correctly, the sovereign immunity doctrine at least in the US would bar such a suit against the government. Sovereign immunity is the concept that a sovereign cannot be sued for damages except in cases where it has waived the immunity (for example, by having a law stating that it is responsible for damages in certain types of cases, usually with an upper limit).

    I presume no sane government would make a law that subjects the country to that large liabilities. Many countries have laws that provide for some kind of restitution from the state in the case of wrongful imprisonment, but it's hard to imagine an unlimited liability.

    If the officers of the state did wrong, it may be possible to sue them for damages (also in the US), but good luck collecting billions of dollars from them...

  3. Re:How Much Was The Pirated Software Worth? by Zorpheus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Though I didn't see a warez download link for Dropbox or OneDrive yet

  4. Re: Kim Dotcom by jbengt · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sounds like a civil case then, not a criminal one. OK, I know the US legislators have bowed down to their mickey mouse masters and made such things criminal, but they had been civil matters before.