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Avast! Kim Dotcom, alleged King ‘o the Pirates, be offerin’ a $5 million (£3 million) bounty t’ any of ye bilge rats who can blow yer whistle sweet enough t’ skewer his extradition!
As followers of this summer-blockbuster-esque saga will recall, Dotcom’s Megaupload file-sharing empire was shut down in 2012, leaving him fighting extradition to the USA to face charges of racketeering, money laundering and copyright theft – charges with potential jail terms of 20 years.
Now, Dotcom’s offering mega-bucks to anybody who can help him prove his long-argued contention that Hollywood studios illegally set the US authorities on him, aided and abetted by the country’s close ally, New Zealand.
Dotcom tweeted that he has few options as he fights one of the biggest copyright infringement cases ever brought:
My case is unfair: I was declined discovery I didn’t get my own data back I need Whistleblowers I am offering USD $5M http://t.co/OhE7k3KlUL
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) June 8, 2014
My case is unfair:
I was declined discovery
I didn't get my own data back
I need Whistleblowers
I am offering USD $5M
In his tweet, Dotcom included a link to a Torrent Freak article about how the bounty will go to “anyone prepared to reveal behind-the-scenes wrongdoing and corruption.”
About a year ago, Dotcom was supposed to have gotten back some of his seized property. A judge also granted him the right to see all of the evidence against him before, rather than after, extradition.
In April, Hollywood came after him again, as six mammoth movie studios filed suit against what they say is the former file-sharing site’s mind-numbingly-massive copyright infringement.
Now, after several delays, a Supreme Court hearing on Doctom’s extradition is set to begin in Auckland on 7 July 2014.
And just as his assets were about to be released in New Zealand and Hong Kong, Hollywood sought to get Dotcom’s assets re-frozen.
Now, Dotcom is hoping to fight back by getting some dirt on his legal enemies.
Here’s what he says in the Torrent Freak article:
Let me be clear, we are asking for information that proves unlawful or corrupt conduct by the US government, the New Zealand government, spy agencies, law enforcement and Hollywood.
…and he suggests taking any such dirt to a newspaper that’s done quite a lot of dirt-handling in the past year, with all its Edward Snowden-fueled whistleblowing:
I have been in touch with the Guardian editor and he has kindly retweeted my offer and told me that he hopes that someone will reply to that offer.
…preferably by using a new whistleblower tool released by The Guardian last week.
Dotcom also recommends that whistleblowers take even more caution in covering their tracks by using the whistleblower tool on an internet cafe computer, using a memory stick, instead of doing it from work, from home, or via a personal computer or phone.
Then again, he says, you could just buy a disposable laptop or netbook and destroy it when you’re done.
I guess that disposable computers are a reasonable investment, really, for anybody who stands a chance of earning $5 million for helping out a famous, and infamous, alleged pirate.
Image of whistle courtesy of Shutterstock.
Have to admit, this guys is intelligent. Not only is he getting people to work for him, he is getting them to work for him for free with the promise of a reward. If he get his millions back, 5M is a small price to pay the one who gives him back his fortune. Someone should make a case study on him and enlighten the law enforcement teams on how to tackle super intelligent criminals. Its surprising how the criminals claims to be the victim of unfair proceedings the second they are caught and choose to ignore the same facts when they are on the other side of the law.
He has not been proven guilty yet so wait before calling him a super criminal. Moreover the way Megaupload was destroyed by the FBI does not feel really “legal” to say the least…
If it looks like a dog, smells like a dog, and sounds like a dog, it can only be a Dog!
Ill leave you to to open a company, hire Jordan Belfort as your CEO and KimDotCom as your CFO (after all, everyone has to have a chance). Dont be surprised though if after 1 year your hard earned and invested money has gone to cocaine, prostitutes and really expensive, one of a kind beds 😉
Let me substitute the word “dog” with “criminal”, If it looks like a criminal, smells like a criminal, and sounds like a criminal, it can only be a criminal!
Let’s try substitute the word “dog” with “good man”, If it looks like a good man, smells like a good man, and sounds like a good man, it can only be a good man!
It sounds so wrong! Judging by senses/impression alone can be deceiving, all you know is only what’s on the media, what you don’t know is what’s going on behind the scene.
Guilty until proven innocent these days?
Of course everyone has to be proven guilty without reasonable doubt before which they could be punished, and its the same law which tempts criminals to take up a life of crime. So it is ok for someone to host pirated stuff, make money out of it and live a life of luxury but the so called ethically advanced intellects need everyone to be ‘proven guilty’. With the current laws having more loop holes than a tea strainer, I feel sorry for those who are in charge of law enforcement.
I don’t think you understand how the criminal justice system works. It’s people like you, that listen to the media and take their word for it that cause people to become criminalized before the trial.
He hasn’t been tried yet, so he is innocent. After the trial, you can say things like this.
Of course he is innocent, he just found the secret formula to make money grow on trees. People who understand the criminal justice system are perfectly happy to believe that.
Mmmm …
Likes to present himself as a poor underdog taking on the global mega-corporations on our behalf.
Yet in reality this is a guy that can shell out $5m cash.
(and the people file share sites rip off can be ordinary people trying to make a few hundred bucks a month out of some little website they run)
he got his cars back
MR. KIM DOTCOM
Tell them you want political asylum due to the fact your caught in a political war and are fighting on a front for what you believe in. Minorities still have rights and need to be protected even if the majority says you don’t. I’m declaring political asylum for myself for the reason of legalizing cannabis the surrounding states have legalized marijuana for recreational use. But due to some invisible boundary and some opinion they can enforce illegal laws and unjust treatment upon innocent citizens like me.
PS. I woulda gave you this play for free but I’m strapped for time and resources at this point in my life so if claiming political asylum works hook a skull n bones brother up.
( PS). Make your home a church get a priest and claim religious asylum I have seen churches do it. You might have to kick down some funding to the pope or Vatican city but Catholics are known for these protections same as any other church lol. I love how the FBI had all the porn on their servers I read your statements on that a while back. un related to this I think I went to high school with your friend the Snowden’s back in the day. Which may explain the recent attacks upon my computers and cellphones and government records.