U.S. Government Wins Millions From Kim Dotcom

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The hits just keep rolling in for Kim Dotcom. If it weren't for bad luck, this guy wouldn't have any at all. :eek:

The U.S. Government has won its civil forfeiture case against Megaupload and Kim Dotcom. As a result, the U.S. now owns Kim Dotcom's bank accounts, cars, art and other property worth dozens of millions of dollars. Megaupload's founder describes the ruling as unjust and says his team will file an appeal at a higher court.
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It's hard to defend yourself in a civil case when doing so requires you to basically set foot in a hostile country where you're going to be arrested and thrown in jail for a criminal proceeding that's pending.
 
I wouldn't say "wins." I would say "steals." The US can do whatever they want to nearly anyone on the planet.

The scary thing is that what they did to Dotcom is not nearly as bad as what they've done to so many other people.
 
I really hope this is the end of it all and that he'll just kinda step out of the media spotlight from here on out.
 
I don't understand how the US can seize the property of a citizen of another country, who has never even been to the US before.
 
Ruoh said:
I don't understand how the US can seize the property of a citizen of another country, who has never even been to the US before.
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ever since 911 US has come down hard on many foreign financial institutions such that most foreign banks won't accept US customers nowadays. Also underneath all the rhetoric and pleasantries, might always makes right.
 
Ruoh said:
I don't understand how the US can seize the property of a citizen of another country, who has never even been to the US before.
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Not many countries are willing to stand up to the US and the US is one of the most corrupt countries in history. They will seize whatever they want whenever they want from whomever they want.

Why do you think Snowden ended up in a country like Russia? That's the sort of place you need to go to have any hope of escaping the corruption of the US.
 
SunnyD said:
It's hard to defend yourself in a civil case when doing so requires you to basically set foot in a hostile country where you're going to be arrested and thrown in jail for a criminal proceeding that's pending.
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Also hard to have a lawyer defend you when the government freezes all of your funds in the country.
 
dandragonrage said:
Not many countries are willing to stand up to the US and the US is one of the most corrupt countries in history. They will seize whatever they want whenever they want from whomever they want.

Why do you think Snowden ended up in a country like Russia? That's the sort of place you need to go to have any hope of escaping the corruption of the US.
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Seriously? I get we are a pretty fucked up nation but Snowden ran there because they are one of the few countries more corrupt than the US...
 
Disposed said:
Seriously? I get we are a pretty fucked up nation but Snowden ran there because they are one of the few countries more corrupt than the US...
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He ran there because they are corrupt? LOL... WTF are you talking about? He ran there because the US can't do much to him there. The US can do much to him nearly anywhere else.
 
dandragonrage said:
He ran there because they are corrupt? LOL... WTF are you talking about? He ran there because the US can't do much to him there. The US can do much to him nearly anywhere else.
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You cant be fucking serious... Had he done the same thing to russia that the US wants him for he would have a fucking hole in his head and an unmarked grave in the middle of nowhere.

He ran there because Putin wants to piss the US off. If it was not for that simple fact he would be here...
 
Guys, all that is besides the point. He ran there because it was the only way to keep living and spread the word. Everything else doesn't matter. The US and Russia are evil at the tip.

Governments all over the world are evil and the bigger the eviler.
 
I think people are trying to bend the situation too much here. The US is pursuing an individual that broke US laws and profited off of it. Just because they may be a citizen of another nation, does not make it right for them to break the laws of the US when conducting business within the US, which is what Megaupload did. Therefore, the US prosecuted him based on his business dealings within the United States. There is absolutely nothing corrupt about that. Countries do that all the time. This kind of thing happened well before 9/11 as well.

Also the Snowden thing is a completely different case and has nothing to do with corruption. Snowden broke numerous laws and fled the country because he was completely guilty of his crimes. It had nothing to do with fleeing from or to a corrupt country. He went to a country he believed had the most to gain from US secrets.
 
The fact of the matter is that he ran a site for sharing files, many of which were 100% legal. The US government (ATF department for example) can traffick illegal weapons and lose track of them and not get in trouble. Banks like HSBC can launder money. And there are lots of violent criminals on the loose in general. Yet they spend their time and money going after someone who ran a website. Might as well seize all the assets of everyone's ISP as well for the same reason.

How about you stop listening to what politicians tell you and actually start using your brain? Politicians will tell you anything is illegal if it benefits them. Yet they don't mention that the things THEY do are illegal and the laws THEY pass are invalid in the first place. Congress keeps trying to override the Constitution by passing laws to make this and that illegal but they don't have the authority to override the Constitution with laws in the first place making many of these "illegal" things still legal. But while they lack authority, they do not lack the power to punish you if you don't obey their invalid laws.

Even if you want to argue that Dotcom did something illegal which I dispute in the first place, any rational human being would agree that the US really went too far in what they've done to him, and NZ's politicians either puppets and/or spineless for allowing it.
 
fwiw Snowden ended up in Russia because the US authorities pulled his visa while he was waiting in the transit zone at the Chinese airport. I don't think Russia was his first choice since I believe he was trying to make it to Ecuador originally. As far as Kim Dotcom... I figure the US authorities had more important issues to deal with these days but MPAA probably lines a lot of pocketbooks.
 
NoOther said:
Also the Snowden thing is a completely different case and has nothing to do with corruption. Snowden broke numerous laws and fled the country because he was completely guilty of his crimes. It had nothing to do with fleeing from or to a corrupt country. He went to a country he believed had the most to gain from US secrets.
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Can I have some of your kool-aid? Whistleblowers were supposed to be protected, not the opposite. Obama even said it, signed a bill for it, and then proceeded to fuck over more whistlerblowers than his predecessors. Snowden told me what I needed to know and I'm glad he did. He is a hero to me. So sit on a stick.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/27/whistle-blower-bill_n_2199587.html
 
I've been following this story since it first broke a few years ago. Its just really interesting to read about. I think there's corruption on both sides in this case. KimDotCom is just a very loud individual and always puts himself in the spotlight and has his own spin of Megaupload and it being 100% legit. But when you read into the other sides claims, they supposedly have email that was sent back and fourth where they paid people in some cases $100k who were big contributors to megaupload who were knowingly uploading copyrighted content.

While I agree that the US does not have a right to take property without due process, KimDotCom is no saint as he puts himself out there to be. Some people believe this whole ordeal with him and his now ex-wife was setup to break him from his current assets of Mega so the DOJ cant go after those assets as well. (which his wife owns something like 50% of and he now owns nothing). His wife still lives there on the premises I believe in the "guest house" at his NZ Mansion. I wouldn't let my ex live on the premises if she supposedly was messing with this younger guy who KimDotCom took under his wing, even if kids are involved.
 
Shouldn't the 14th amendment protect people from civil forfeiture?

Amendment XIV

Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

When a civil forfeiture is challenged, are the courts totally disregarding this part of the Constitution?
 
You guys are missing the point here... he didn't grease the right hands for this to go away..
 
NeghVar said:
Shouldn't the 14th amendment protect people from civil forfeiture?
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No amendment protects anyone from anything these days. A few very general examples of this:

-NDAA 2013 allowed for indefinite detention of anyone - including American citizens - without any cause or even accusation of cause

-PATRIOT Act

-The general idea that Congress simply needs to pass a law to override the Constitution, completely disregarding the actual process for doing so. Legally they need to call a Convention of States. Doing so is a huge pain in the ass but that is the whole point because the Constitution is not supposed to be easily overridden. The way our government acts now, there is no point in having the Constitution at all.

-The general idea that all laws are valid until struck down by the Supreme Court. The Constitution doesn't actually dictate that courts work this way. And judges are just politicians that operate the same as any other. They are either appointed by the same people who create these terrible laws or, in some cases, they are elected and run the same sort of attack ads and such that indicate a complete lack of integrity. What judges do today is find excuses to make the law work the way they and other politicians work. An example is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn where the Supreme Court decided that a farmer growing his own wheat was subject to the interstate commerce clause because had he not grown his own wheat, he MIGHT have bought wheat that had crossed interstate lines. Do you seriously think judges are out to protect the Constitution or the people of this country?
 
dandragonrage said:
What judges do today is find excuses to make the law work the way they and other politicians work.
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Typo. Fixed line: What judges do today is find excuses to make the law work the way they and other politicians want.

This section continues to be amazing with its lack of edit function. Makes the board SO much better.
 
NoOther said:
I think people are trying to bend the situation too much here. The US is pursuing an individual that broke US laws and profited off of it. Just because they may be a citizen of another nation, does not make it right for them to break the laws of the US when conducting business within the US, which is what Megaupload did. Therefore, the US prosecuted him based on his business dealings within the United States. There is absolutely nothing corrupt about that. Countries do that all the time. This kind of thing happened well before 9/11 as well.

Also the Snowden thing is a completely different case and has nothing to do with corruption. Snowden broke numerous laws and fled the country because he was completely guilty of his crimes. It had nothing to do with fleeing from or to a corrupt country. He went to a country he believed had the most to gain from US secrets.
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Let me guess, is this your house?

100_0441.jpg
 
This is how business is done. It has nothing to do with the law. Hollywood has poured millions into the democratic party and this is the thank you they receive. Dotcom, while an annoying twat at times, just got robbed.
 
Not to stir up a hornets nest, but did he need to be at the trial? Couldn't he have sent a lawyer? It was a civil case was it not?

I do have to say that Dotcom's (he's still a frickin moron for legally changing his name to that) avoidance of the issue then claiming the was no trial or due process is a bit laughable. As someone who had to hunt someone down to serve court papers to, people who knows they are going to be sued and simply tries to get out of it through avoidance it is hard to feel for them in any way if default judgements come against them
 
Although I think Kim Dotcom is a scumbag and thief it seems the government has finally trumped him. What a waste trying to prosecute this guy using millions of taxpayers dollars when nobody cares anymore, except the RIAA and MPAA.
 
This whole case has been an absolute joke of justice. It's done nothing but expose just how corrupt the US justice system has become. Civil forfeiture is just the icing on the cake and I hope it helps citizens see how far any type of due process has fallen.

Stock up on guns and ammo, it's really the only conclusion I can see coming to these continuous abuses of power.
 
Bomber18 said:
This whole case has been an absolute joke of justice. It's done nothing but expose just how corrupt the US justice system has become. Civil forfeiture is just the icing on the cake and I hope it helps citizens see how far any type of due process has fallen.

Stock up on guns and ammo, it's really the only conclusion I can see coming to these continuous abuses of power.
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I do wonder if the US government actually served him papers to appear in court. Because I could very easily see him scoffing at the charges (as he always does) and then deciding he's not going to bother with them. Can't really say I feel for the guy at all if he simply ignored it all because he thought he was above the law.
 
Because the laws of the US are completely right and just and always have been.
Just like slavery in the pre-Civil Rights Era...
Just like the bans on homosexuality that still persist today in many areas....

Yeah, because the law is always 100% right you filthy arrogant twits. >_>
 
sfsuphysics said:
I do wonder if the US government actually served him papers to appear in court. Because I could very easily see him scoffing at the charges (as he always does) and then deciding he's not going to bother with them. Can't really say I feel for the guy at all if he simply ignored it all because he thought he was above the law.
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Have you read the other blunders in this case? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaupload_legal_case

To me it seems very apparent what's going on. The RIAA and MPAA manipulated the US government to go after a private citizen in New Zealand to get a superficial victory in their war against privacy. As if it weren't bad enough that the US government is basically owned by corporations the New Zealand government went along with all of their requests like a dog. The whole time the laws of both countries have been absolutely ignored and pissed on wherever it's convenient.

An 80 person swat raid on a birthday party for copyright infringement charges in another country. Compare that to the US government giving huge sums of tax payer money to banks so they could pay their executives record bonuses for causing a global financial crisis. You can't convince me that this country isn't absolutely fucked.
 
This shit is funny. How many people are charged and convicted of crimes everyday at all levels of government in the US? Beyond their families how many other people give a fuck about any of them beyond a handful of sensational cases?

Zero. Zero fucks given.
 
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