WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Kim Dotcom, the internet entrepreneur currently battling deportation from New Zealand to the United States regarding his file-sharing platform Megaupload, has reportedly experienced a “serious stroke,” according to a post shared on his X account this past Monday.
In his post, Dotcom expressed gratitude for the support of health care professionals assisting in his recovery and mentioned that he intends to return as soon as possible, asking for patience and prayers for his family and himself.
His attorney, Ira Rothken, confirmed the accuracy of the post but refrained from indicating whether Dotcom himself composed it, offering no additional details about the situation.
This news about Dotcom’s health emerges amidst an ongoing struggle by the U.S. government to extradite the Finnish-German entrepreneur from New Zealand to address charges related to copyright infringement, money laundering, and racketeering.
In a ruling made in August by New Zealand’s justice minister, it was decided that Dotcom should be handed over to U.S. authorities to face trial, marking a significant step in an extensive legal battle lasting over a decade. However, no specific date for the extradition was set, and the Minister, Paul Goldsmith, indicated that Dotcom would have a brief period to consider his options and seek legal advice regarding the ruling.
Rothken announced on X that Dotcom plans to legally contest this decision through a judicial review, which would involve a judge assessing whether the decision was made appropriately.
This long-running saga dates back to Dotcom’s arrest in 2012, during a high-profile raid on his mansion in Auckland, where he was apprehended alongside other individuals associated with the company. Prosecutors claimed that Megaupload generated at least $175 million, largely fueled by users engaging in illegal downloads of music, television shows, and films, prior to the site’s shutdown by the FBI earlier in that same year.
Defense attorneys for Dotcom and his co-defendants argued that it was the users of the platform, which was established in 2005, who engaged in piracy, rather than the website’s founders. In contrast, prosecutors insisted that the defendants orchestrated a substantial criminal operation, with the Department of Justice labeling it as the largest copyright infringement case in U.S. history.
After years of legal battles and intense criticism of the investigation and subsequent arrests, New Zealand’s Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that Dotcom and two others could indeed be extradited. It ultimately fell to the Justice Minister to decide whether to move forward with the extradition.
“I love New Zealand. I’m not leaving,” Dotcom expressed on X in August. He did not provide any comments to inquiries made at that time or on the Monday following the health update.
Of Dotcom’s former business associates, two pleaded guilty to the charges against them and have served time in a New Zealand prison, successfully avoiding extradition to the U.S. Meanwhile, the extradition attempt against another associate was dropped, as he has since passed away due to cancer.
In Monday’s statement, Dotcom did not specify when he had suffered the stroke. Typically an active user on X, he had last made a post on November 6.
