New Zealand to extradite Megaupload's flamboyant founder Kim Dotcom to the U.S.

New Zealand will extradite mogul Kim Dotcom to the United States after the country's justice minister gave approved it on Thursday.

According to a government statement issued Thursday, Paul Goldsmith, New Zealand's justice minister, signed the extradition order for Dotcom.

"I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the US to face trial," Goldsmith said. "As is common practice, I have allowed Mr Dotcom a short period of time to consider and take advice on my decision. I will not, therefore, be commenting further at this stage."

Following the statement, Goldsmith took to X (formerly Twitter) to post several defiant comments against the United States and its legal system.

"I love New Zealand. I’m not leaving," the tycoon said in one post.

In another post, he suggested he is a political persecutee. He compared his legal situation to that of former President Donald Trump, who could return to the White House in 2025 should he defeat Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris at the polls in November.

"Trump and I have one thing in common: We have both been persecuted by Joe Biden’s corrupt DOJ puppets. In my case Biden appointed his personal lawyer as a DOJ prosecutor to bring a novel criminal copyright case against me for his Hollywood donors," Dotcom wrote.

It is not yet clear when and how Dotcom will be extradited.

Dotcom is the flamboyant founder of Megaupload, a famous website used by millions of users as a quick and easy way to store massive files online and share them with others. The site was founded in 2005 and, seven years later, was shut down by the U.S. government. Dotcom, along with three others, were charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering, wire fraud, conspiracy to infringe copyrights on a commercial scale and money laundering.

Dotcom and the other co-defendants argue that they are innocent and that Megaupload was simply a file-sharing website, so they should not be blamed for what other users uploaded to the site. However, U.S. authorities believe the four individuals profited from copyright infringement through the website.

Minister Goldsmith signed the order after three New Zealand courts ruled against Dotcom, dismissing his defense argument and claiming that he could not be extradited on charges of profiting from copyright infringement, as such an offense does not exist in New Zealand.

The German-born, New Zealand-based founder of Megaupload has been fighting his extradition to the United States since 2012. His case is reminiscent, in part, of Julian Assange, who faced similar piracy charges after publishing classified documents through WikiLeaks. Assange eventually struck a deal with the United States and returned to his native Australia after spending years fighting extradition.

Dotcom, in fact, interacted with the WikiLeaks account on X this afternoon to criticize the United States.

"It all started because I became a large donor to Wikileaks after Julian revealed US war crimes with the collateral murder video. And the moment I got out on bail I created Mega and sent the first $100k I made to Wikileaks. I would do it all over again. Fuck the criminal US Govt."