Dotcom was one of four men arrested in an investigation of the massive file-sharing website led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, but he wasn't cooperative in the slightest, Reuters reports.
Dozens of police officers, with helicopters flying overhead, broke into Dotcom's mansion, which sits on farmland and is believed to be worth $30 million in New Zealand dollars, after he refused to let them in.
"Despite our staff clearly identifying themselves, Mr. Dotcom retreated into the house and activated a number of electronic-locking mechanisms," detective inspector Grant Wormald said.
That forced the police to break the locks, with Dotcom -- also known as Kim Schmitz -- barricading himself into a safe room that officers had to cut through in order to gain entry.
"Once they gained entry into this room, they found Mr. Dotcom near a firearm which had the appearance of a shortened shotgun. It was definitely not as simple as knocking at the front door," Wormald said.
New Zealand police raided several homes and businesses linked to Dotcom and seized guns, millions of dollars and nearly $5 million in luxury cars, officials said.
In Hong Kong, where Megaupload is based, customs officials said they seized more than $42.5 million in assets. They said the company operated out of luxury hotel space costing more than $12,000 a day, and they seized high-speed servers and other equipment from the offices.
The shutdown and indictment generated headlines around the world in part because of the size and scope of Megaupload’s operation. Sandvine, Inc., a Canadian company that provides equipment to monitor Internet traffic, said the website alone accounted for about 1 percent of traffic on U.S. cable and DSL lines. The site is even more popular in many foreign countries.
Bennett said that "we intend to vigorously defend against these charges" but declined to comment on the case in detail.
Bennett is best known for serving as President Bill Clinton’s attorney when he was accused of sexual harassment by Paula Jones. He has also represented Defense Secretaries Clark Clifford and Caspar Weinberger.
Megaupload was no stranger to accusations that its website existed for the sole purpose of mass copyright breach. Before its website was taken down, Megaupload offered a more detailed defense of its operations, claiming in a statement that such accusations are "grotesquely overblown."
The company said it had a clear, easy-to-follow procedure if movie studios or other copyright holders saw that their products were being illegally shared on Megaupload, and said that it responded to those "takedown notices" as required by law.
"Of course, abuse does happen and is an inevitable fact of life in a free society, but it is curbed heavily and efficiently by our close cooperation with trusted takedown partners. It is just unfortunate that the activities of a small group of `black sheep’ overshadows the millions of users that use our sites legitimately every day," the statement said.
Indeed, sites like megaupload.com, known as cyberlockers, can fulfill legitimate needs and are used every day by people looking for an efficient way to share or transfer large files that can’t easily be sent by email.
In their indictment, however, federal prosecutors offered a detailed glimpse of the internal workings of the website. They allege that Megaupload was well aware that the vast majority of its users were there to illegally download copyrighted content.
Dozens of police officers, with helicopters flying overhead, broke into Dotcom's mansion, which sits on farmland and is believed to be worth $30 million in New Zealand dollars, after he refused to let them in.
"Despite our staff clearly identifying themselves, Mr. Dotcom retreated into the house and activated a number of electronic-locking mechanisms," detective inspector Grant Wormald said.
That forced the police to break the locks, with Dotcom -- also known as Kim Schmitz -- barricading himself into a safe room that officers had to cut through in order to gain entry.
"Once they gained entry into this room, they found Mr. Dotcom near a firearm which had the appearance of a shortened shotgun. It was definitely not as simple as knocking at the front door," Wormald said.
New Zealand police raided several homes and businesses linked to Dotcom and seized guns, millions of dollars and nearly $5 million in luxury cars, officials said.
In Hong Kong, where Megaupload is based, customs officials said they seized more than $42.5 million in assets. They said the company operated out of luxury hotel space costing more than $12,000 a day, and they seized high-speed servers and other equipment from the offices.
The shutdown and indictment generated headlines around the world in part because of the size and scope of Megaupload’s operation. Sandvine, Inc., a Canadian company that provides equipment to monitor Internet traffic, said the website alone accounted for about 1 percent of traffic on U.S. cable and DSL lines. The site is even more popular in many foreign countries.
Bennett said that "we intend to vigorously defend against these charges" but declined to comment on the case in detail.
Bennett is best known for serving as President Bill Clinton’s attorney when he was accused of sexual harassment by Paula Jones. He has also represented Defense Secretaries Clark Clifford and Caspar Weinberger.
Megaupload was no stranger to accusations that its website existed for the sole purpose of mass copyright breach. Before its website was taken down, Megaupload offered a more detailed defense of its operations, claiming in a statement that such accusations are "grotesquely overblown."
The company said it had a clear, easy-to-follow procedure if movie studios or other copyright holders saw that their products were being illegally shared on Megaupload, and said that it responded to those "takedown notices" as required by law.
"Of course, abuse does happen and is an inevitable fact of life in a free society, but it is curbed heavily and efficiently by our close cooperation with trusted takedown partners. It is just unfortunate that the activities of a small group of `black sheep’ overshadows the millions of users that use our sites legitimately every day," the statement said.
Indeed, sites like megaupload.com, known as cyberlockers, can fulfill legitimate needs and are used every day by people looking for an efficient way to share or transfer large files that can’t easily be sent by email.
In their indictment, however, federal prosecutors offered a detailed glimpse of the internal workings of the website. They allege that Megaupload was well aware that the vast majority of its users were there to illegally download copyrighted content.
No comments:
Post a Comment