Megaupload partners feared Dotcom would flee with all the money

The partners at nowclosed internet download portal Megaupload feared that its founder, Kim Dotcom, would run away with all the money if the company faced problems, the prosecution said Friday in the extradition trial at New Zealand.

Dotcom, his countrymen Mathias Ortmann and Finn Batato, as well as the Dutch Bram van der Kolk, all former associates at Megaupload, are sought by the U.S. authorities for alleged internet piracy, organized crime and money laundering.

Crown lawyer Christine Gordon, who is also representing the U.S. government, read out a series of Skype conversations and emails that show the accused were aware of the illegal activities taking place on the portal right from the start, according to NZN agency.

In one of the conversations, Van der Kolk tells Ortmann the possibility of them getting into trouble “is getting bigger.”

“The fact is when. There’s no way out, Kim will also grab the last couple of millions and go on hiding,” the conversation says.

Gordon also read out dozens of other extracts, in which Dotcom described the group as “evil” and Van der Kolk said he always lived from “piracy.”

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.

The extradition trial has been postponed ten times since Dotcom and his associates were arrested in January 2012 from their rented mansion in the outskirts of Auckland, after which Megaupload was shut down, their accounts frozen and their property confiscated.

The operation was part of an extensive international operation led by the FBI.

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.