Kim Dotcom Suffers “Serious Stroke”, Amid Deportation Fight

Tom Jowitt,
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Post on social media claims Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has suffered a “serious stroke” amid deportation from New Zealand

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The protracted extradition case of Kim Dotcom, the colourful founder of the defunct Hong Kong-based file-sharing website Megaupload, has taken another twist with a reported medical emergency.

On Monday 25 November 2024, a post on Dotcom’s X account tweeted that he had suffered a “serious stroke” and was in the process of making a recovery. It is not clear at the time of writing whether Dotcom or another person had created the tweet from his account.

“UPDATE: I am recovering from a serious stroke. I have the best health professionals helping me to make a recovery,” Dotcom tweeted. “I will be back as soon as I can. Please be patient and pray for my family and I.”

Dotcom stroke

Dotcom’s US-based lawyer, Ira Rothken, confirmed to The Associated Press that the contents of the statement were accurate.

Rothken would not say whether Dotcom or someone else wrote the post and did not provide further details.

Meanwhile AP reported that his New Zealand-based lawyer, Ron Mansfield, told the New Zealand Herald on Tuesday that Dotcom suffered the stroke on 7 November and is expected to remain hospitalized for some time.

His prognosis is uncertain, Mansfield reportedly said.

The 50-year-old internet mogul is usually a prolific X user, but he had last tweeted on 6 November – one post simply stated “free Kim Dotcom”, as other tweets celebrated Donald Trump’s election victory.

Another tweet on 6 November touted that “liberation” was coming Europe, and warned people like UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer, Ukraine President Volodmyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that “your end is coming.”

Extradition battle

German-born Kim Dotcom has New Zealand residency, but for the past 12 years has been engaged in fierce legal battle against his extradition to the United States, after a FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion back in 2012.

After a protracted legal battle, in August 2024 New Zealand Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed an extradition order for Dotcom.

A date for the extradition was not set, and Goldsmith at the time said Dotcom would be allowed “a short period of time to consider and take advice” on the decision.

However Kim Dotcom quickly took to X (formerly Twitter) to deliver his response, tweeting “I love New Zealand. I’m not leaving 😘”.

He also tweeted he has a “plan”, but did not mention what this entailed.

His US lawyer Ira Rothken at the time wrote on X that Dotcom intended to challenge the order in court through a judicial review, where a judge is asked to evaluate whether an official’s decision was reached correctly.

Megaupload case

Kim Dotcom was at the centre of a global FBI operation that took down the file-sharing website Megaupload, which at one stage had attracted 4 percent of the world’s internet traffic thanks to its easy access to copyrighted films, music, television shows and video games.

US authorities had alleged that Megaupload CEO Dotcom, CTO Mathias Ortmann, as well as Bram van der Kolk (head of software programming and the rewards scheme), and marketing director Finn Batato had cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million and generated more than $175 million by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material.

Megaupload was closed down in early 2012 after the FBI applied for an indictment against the website and its operators for racketeering, conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, and other charges.

Finn Batato died of cancer, and Ortmann and van der Kolk struck a deal in which they pleaded guilty and served their prison time in New Zealand.

Kim Dotcom

However Kim Dotcom fought a protracted legal fight against extradition, which at times has been entertaining to say the least.

For example he insisted on bringing his own chair into a New Zealand court room, citing “ergonomic reasons”, and even at one point filed an application for former US President Barack Obama to appear in the NZ court during Obama’s visit to the country.

When Megaupload was closed down in 2012, Dotcom had been arrested by New Zealand police on orders from the US. His mansion in New Zealand had also been raided.

However Dotcom repeatedly won subsequent legal tussles that delayed his extradition to the United States.

For example in June 2012, a New Zealand High Court declared the search warrants used in the raid on Dotcom’s mansion were “invalid”. Then in May 2013, Dotcom regained access to evidence seized during those raids.

And in September 2012, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, apologised to Dotcom for unlawfully spying on him. New Zealand law prohibits spying on citizens or those who, like Dotcom, have a residence class visa.

Kim Dotcom took his battle against his extraditionto the Supreme Court in New Zealand in June 2019.

In November 2020, New Zealand’s Supreme Court ruled that Dotcom could be returned to the US to face copyright charges.

But the NZ Supreme court at the time also overturned another lower court’s decision, which had effectively granted Dotcom the right to appeal.

Dotcom has always made clear he is not going to leave New Zealand voluntarily.