Kim Dotcom accused of fraud during extradition trial

New Zealand’s Crown lawyer Christine Gordon accused German businessman, Kim Dotcom, and three of his associates of committing fraud through the nowclosed internet download portal Megaupload, during the trial to extradite them to the U.S on Thursday.

Gordon, who also represents the U.S. government, called the case unconventional as it involves the internet but added the accused also faces more conventional charges such as unlawful acquirement of wealth, according to Radio New Zealand.

“The respondents were part of a conspiracy (where) they deliberately attracted copyrightinfringing material to their websites,” Gordon said at the hearing in Auckland.

“(They) deliberately preserved it, deliberately took steps to profit from that material, and made vast sums of money,” she added.

After four years of delay, the trial against Dotcom and his associates began Monday with a preliminary hearing during which the accused unsuccessfully sought a postponement or suspension of the trial.

Dotcom was arrested in 2012, as part of an extensive international operation led by the FBI, along with his countrymen Mathias Ortmann and Finn Batato; and the Dutch Bram van der Kolk, from their rented mansion in the outskirts of Auckland.

According to the Crown, more than 90 percent of the content hosted on Megaupload, which rewarded users to attract higher internet traffic, infringed copyright.

Judge Nevin Dawson will determine if the four accused should be extradited to the U.S. to face trial for copyright infringement, organized crime and money laundering, in a case closely followed by the country’s film and music industry.

The U.S. says Megaupload, which had 50 million users and represented four percent of global Internet traffic, caused losses of more than $500 million to the film and music industry through internet piracy, and generated illegal profits to the tune of $175 million.

Until now of the seven members of Megaupload, its programmer Andrus Nomm is the only one to have been prosecuted.

He was sentenced to little over a year in prison in the U.S. after he pleaded guilty to copyright infringement.