Guns, luxury cars and millions in cash seized from 'internet pirate'
Police seized millions of pounds, a vast collection of luxury cars and sawn-off shotguns yesterday when they raided the mansion of a man accused of being one of the world?s biggest internet pirates.
Swooping on convicted fraudster Kim Dotcom?s ?16million home outside Auckland by helicopter, officers had to cut their way in to arrest him after the founder of the MegaUpload website retreated into a fortified safe room.
Dotcom, 37 ? nicknamed Dr Evil ? has Finnish and German citizenship.
He and six of his employees face charges by U.S. prosecutors in what they say is one of the biggest criminal copyright theft cases ever brought.
Held: Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz and also known as Kim Tim Jim Vestor, was arrested along with three other executives of Megauploads
Luxury: The property in Coatesville, near Auckland, New Zealand, which was raided today as part of the operation against the founder and executives of file-sharing site Megaupload.com
MegaUpload, which the U.S. government shut down yesterday, is a Hong Kong-based ?cyberlocker? service that allows users to download pirated films, TV shows, music and e-books with just a few clicks.
It is accused of costing copyright owners ?322million in lost earnings and of making ?113million by selling advertising and premium subscriptions.
A neighbour of Dotcom's told the New Zealand Herald she heard a helicopter circling the property at about 6.30am.
'I thought it was his private helicopter, which is parked up behind the trees, and I thought he was going out for breakfast, as he sometimes does,' said the neighbour, whose name was not given.
'I thought "this is going on a bit long" and it was a bit annoying at that time of the morning and so I got up and realised it was a police helicopter.
'It was there for about an hour and then my friend texted me that a lot of cops had arrived.'
Police said that in total officers served 10 search warrants at businesses and homes related to Dotcom around the city of Auckland.
Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie confirmed that the seized cars included a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe worth more than $400,000 as well as several Mercedes.
Two short-barreled shotguns and a number of valuable artworks were also confiscated, he added.
Along with the assets, Police seized more than $8million invested in New Zealand financial institutions, which has now been placed in a trust pending the outcome of the cases.
Seized: A number of cars belonging to Schmitz including this pink Cadillac were taken away by authorities
Confiscated: Others cars including a collection of Mercedes vehicles were removed from the Schmitz's home
Although music stars such as Kanye West and Alicia Keys have supported MegaUpload, film and record companies say the seven-year-old file-sharing site is making a fortune off their work without paying them a penny.
Hollywood film companies have been the main victims of piracy.
The seven accused MegaUpload executives ? including two other Germans and a Dutchman also seized in New Zealand ? are each charged with five counts of racketeering, copyright infringement and conspiracy, and could be jailed for up to 20 years.
In the dock: Megaupload executive Bram van der Kolk, left, Finn Batato, second from left, Mathias Ortmann and founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer Kim Dotcom, right, appear in North Shore District Court in Auckland, New Zealand
THE MEGAUPLOAD SEVEN: THE EXECUTIVES INDICTED BY THE DoJ
In an indictment from a Virginia court, prosecutors said the site?s owners were members of the ?Mega Conspiracy, a worldwide criminal organisation whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale?.
Dotcom, a father of three who reportedly changed his surname from Schmitz, made ?27million from MegaUpload in 2010, according to prosecutors.
The 72-page indictment reveals a British link to the operation.
MegaUpload allegedly used Moneybookers, a UK-based e-commerce website, to transfer earnings to Hong Kong.
It also allegedly owns the British-based partypoker.com, one of the biggest poker websites.
Dotcom was granted New Zealand residency despite his criminal background after investing ?5million in government bonds and making a generous donation to the Christchurch earthquake fund.
He is understood to have taken on top Washington lawyer Bob Bennett, who represented Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, to defend him.
A U.S. lawyer for MegaUpload said the allegations appeared to have no legal basis and would be ?vigorously? contested.
In raids on ten addresses around Auckland, police seized assets worth ?32million, including the properties themselves.
Police found two sawn-off shotguns, one with Dotcom in his safe room.
The haul included a ?3million collection of 25 cars ? mainly top-of-the range Mercedes with number plates such as ?STONED?, ?HACKER? and ?GUILTY? but also including Maseratis, a vintage pink Cadillac and Dotcom?s runabout, a ?300,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom with the number plate ?GOD?.
Anonymous: The hackers' collective has launched a revenge attack
Internet hackers from the group Anonymous hit back by attacking the websites of the U.S. Justice Department, the FBI and music companies such as Universal.
They used a technique called ?distributed denial of service? that in effect shuts down sites by overloading them with web traffic.
Detective Inspector Grant Wormald said that after police arrived at Dotcom?s home in two helicopters early yesterday, he ?activated a number of electronic locking mechanisms.
then further barricaded himself into a safe room within the house which officers had to cut their way into?.
He added: ?It was not as simple as knocking at the front door.?
Dotcom has previous convictions for credit card fraud, computer hacking and insider trading.
There were reports that an Anonymous-affiliated Twitter account had boasted of the success of the attacks, but the profile had been removed by the time MailOnline checked today.
A statement posted on document sharing site Pastebin.com purportedly by Anonymous claimed responsibility fot the attacks in retaliation for the Megaupload indictment.
It said: 'We Anonymous are launching our largest attack ever on government and music industry sites. Lulz.
'The FBI didn't think they would get away with this did they? They should have expected us.'
The statement also included home addresses and phone numbers for the MPAA chief executive, Chris Dodd, and details of the organisation's corporate offices.
Megaupload hosted large files and was often used to store mp3 music and digital video files, but claims most of its users used it as a legitimate file storage service.
Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy.
Before the site was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were ?grotesquely overblown?.
'The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay.' the statement said.
'If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch.'
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Megaupload shut down: Police raid reveals Kim Dotcom's multimillion dollar wealth | Mail Online
- $400,000 Rolls Royce and 1959 pink Cadillac among vehicles confiscated
- Founder and three others are arrested in New Zealand at request of the U.S.
- Kim Dotcom and co-accused held in custody pending extradition hearings
- File-sharers alleged to have cost media firms $500million in lost revenue
Police seized millions of pounds, a vast collection of luxury cars and sawn-off shotguns yesterday when they raided the mansion of a man accused of being one of the world?s biggest internet pirates.
Swooping on convicted fraudster Kim Dotcom?s ?16million home outside Auckland by helicopter, officers had to cut their way in to arrest him after the founder of the MegaUpload website retreated into a fortified safe room.
Dotcom, 37 ? nicknamed Dr Evil ? has Finnish and German citizenship.
He and six of his employees face charges by U.S. prosecutors in what they say is one of the biggest criminal copyright theft cases ever brought.
Held: Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz and also known as Kim Tim Jim Vestor, was arrested along with three other executives of Megauploads Luxury: The property in Coatesville, near Auckland, New Zealand, which was raided today as part of the operation against the founder and executives of file-sharing site Megaupload.comMegaUpload, which the U.S. government shut down yesterday, is a Hong Kong-based ?cyberlocker? service that allows users to download pirated films, TV shows, music and e-books with just a few clicks.
It is accused of costing copyright owners ?322million in lost earnings and of making ?113million by selling advertising and premium subscriptions.
A neighbour of Dotcom's told the New Zealand Herald she heard a helicopter circling the property at about 6.30am.
'I thought it was his private helicopter, which is parked up behind the trees, and I thought he was going out for breakfast, as he sometimes does,' said the neighbour, whose name was not given.
'I thought "this is going on a bit long" and it was a bit annoying at that time of the morning and so I got up and realised it was a police helicopter.
'It was there for about an hour and then my friend texted me that a lot of cops had arrived.'
Police said that in total officers served 10 search warrants at businesses and homes related to Dotcom around the city of Auckland.
Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie confirmed that the seized cars included a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe worth more than $400,000 as well as several Mercedes.
Two short-barreled shotguns and a number of valuable artworks were also confiscated, he added.
Along with the assets, Police seized more than $8million invested in New Zealand financial institutions, which has now been placed in a trust pending the outcome of the cases.
Seized: A number of cars belonging to Schmitz including this pink Cadillac were taken away by authorities Confiscated: Others cars including a collection of Mercedes vehicles were removed from the Schmitz's homeAlthough music stars such as Kanye West and Alicia Keys have supported MegaUpload, film and record companies say the seven-year-old file-sharing site is making a fortune off their work without paying them a penny.
Hollywood film companies have been the main victims of piracy.
The seven accused MegaUpload executives ? including two other Germans and a Dutchman also seized in New Zealand ? are each charged with five counts of racketeering, copyright infringement and conspiracy, and could be jailed for up to 20 years.
In the dock: Megaupload executive Bram van der Kolk, left, Finn Batato, second from left, Mathias Ortmann and founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer Kim Dotcom, right, appear in North Shore District Court in Auckland, New ZealandTHE MEGAUPLOAD SEVEN: THE EXECUTIVES INDICTED BY THE DoJ
- Kim Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, 37, a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand, who is the founder of Megaupload Limited and director and sole shareholder of Vestor Limited, which holds his ownership interests in the Mega-affiliated sites
- Finn Batato, 38, a citizen and resident of Germany, who is the chief marketing officer;
- Julius Bencko, 35, a citizen and resident of Slovakia, who is the graphic designer;
- Sven Echternach, 39, a citizen and resident of Germany, who is the head of business development;
- Mathias Ortmann, 40, a citizen of Germany and resident of both Germany and Hong Kong, who is the chief technical officer, co-founder and director;
- Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and resident of both Turkey and Estonia, who is a software programmer and head of the development software division;
- Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, who oversees programming and the underlying network structure for the Mega conspiracy websites.
In an indictment from a Virginia court, prosecutors said the site?s owners were members of the ?Mega Conspiracy, a worldwide criminal organisation whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale?.
Dotcom, a father of three who reportedly changed his surname from Schmitz, made ?27million from MegaUpload in 2010, according to prosecutors.
The 72-page indictment reveals a British link to the operation.
MegaUpload allegedly used Moneybookers, a UK-based e-commerce website, to transfer earnings to Hong Kong.
It also allegedly owns the British-based partypoker.com, one of the biggest poker websites.
Dotcom was granted New Zealand residency despite his criminal background after investing ?5million in government bonds and making a generous donation to the Christchurch earthquake fund.
He is understood to have taken on top Washington lawyer Bob Bennett, who represented Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, to defend him.
A U.S. lawyer for MegaUpload said the allegations appeared to have no legal basis and would be ?vigorously? contested.
In raids on ten addresses around Auckland, police seized assets worth ?32million, including the properties themselves.
Police found two sawn-off shotguns, one with Dotcom in his safe room.
The haul included a ?3million collection of 25 cars ? mainly top-of-the range Mercedes with number plates such as ?STONED?, ?HACKER? and ?GUILTY? but also including Maseratis, a vintage pink Cadillac and Dotcom?s runabout, a ?300,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom with the number plate ?GOD?.
Anonymous: The hackers' collective has launched a revenge attackInternet hackers from the group Anonymous hit back by attacking the websites of the U.S. Justice Department, the FBI and music companies such as Universal.
They used a technique called ?distributed denial of service? that in effect shuts down sites by overloading them with web traffic.
Detective Inspector Grant Wormald said that after police arrived at Dotcom?s home in two helicopters early yesterday, he ?activated a number of electronic locking mechanisms.
then further barricaded himself into a safe room within the house which officers had to cut their way into?.
He added: ?It was not as simple as knocking at the front door.?
Dotcom has previous convictions for credit card fraud, computer hacking and insider trading.
There were reports that an Anonymous-affiliated Twitter account had boasted of the success of the attacks, but the profile had been removed by the time MailOnline checked today.
A statement posted on document sharing site Pastebin.com purportedly by Anonymous claimed responsibility fot the attacks in retaliation for the Megaupload indictment.
It said: 'We Anonymous are launching our largest attack ever on government and music industry sites. Lulz.
'The FBI didn't think they would get away with this did they? They should have expected us.'
The statement also included home addresses and phone numbers for the MPAA chief executive, Chris Dodd, and details of the organisation's corporate offices.
Megaupload hosted large files and was often used to store mp3 music and digital video files, but claims most of its users used it as a legitimate file storage service.
Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy.
Before the site was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were ?grotesquely overblown?.
'The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay.' the statement said.
'If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch.'
------------------------------------
Megaupload shut down: Police raid reveals Kim Dotcom's multimillion dollar wealth | Mail Online
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