Editing Kim Dotcom (section)

{{Short description|German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Kim Dotcom
| image              = Kim Dotcom-2.jpg
| image_size         = 
| caption            = Dotcom in 2014
| birth_name         = Kim Schmitz
| birth_date         = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1974|1|21}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/document/pdf/201429/Dotcom%20OIA.pdf|title=Official Information Act Request: Mr Dotcom|publisher=New Zealand Security Intelligence Service|date=8 July 2014|first=Rebecca|last=Kitteridge|page=8|access-date=15 January 2023|archive-date=20 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220153143/http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/document/pdf/201429/Dotcom%20OIA.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
| birth_place        = [[Kiel]], West Germany
| citizenship        = {{flatlist|
*Germany
*Finland
}}
| other_names        = Kimble, Kim Tim Jim Vestor
| education          = [[Hauptschule|Middle school]]
| occupation         = Entrepreneur
| years_active       = 2005–present
| employer           = 
| organization       = 
| known_for          = Founder and [[CEO]] of [[Megaupload]], [[Mega (service)|Mega]] and K.im
| height             = <ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Carbone |first=Nick |date=2012-01-21 |title=Megaupload Founder Kim Dotcom, by the Numbers |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2012/01/21/megaupload-founder-kim-dotcom-by-the-numbers/ |access-date=2024-08-15 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>
| height_m           = 2
| party              = [[Internet Party (New Zealand)|Internet Party]] (2014–2018)
| criminal_charges   = Computer fraud, data espionage, embezzlement
| criminal_penalty   = Two-year suspended sentence, Five months served and twenty months' suspended sentence
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Mona Verga|2009|2014|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Elizabeth Donnelly<br>|2018}}
}}
| children           = 6
| website            = {{URL|https://kim.com/}}
}}

'''Kim Dotcom''' ([[né]] '''Schmitz''';<ref name="name">{{cite news |url=http://www.news.com.au/technology/the-avish-life-of-file-sharing-kingpin-kim-dotcom/story-e6frfrnr-1226250461590 |title=The lavish life of file-sharing kingpin Kim Dotcom |work=news.com.au |date=22 January 2012 |access-date=23 January 2012 |archive-date=5 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005151418/http://www.news.com.au/technology/the-avish-life-of-file-sharing-kingpin-kim-dotcom/story-e6frfrnr-1226250461590 |url-status=dead }}</ref> born 21 January 1974), also known as '''Kimble'''<ref name="Kimble">{{cite journal |last=Schmidt |first=Karsten |date=23 January 2002 |title=Kimble bleibt stumm |trans-title=Kimble remains silent |language=de |journal=Manager Magazin |url=http://www.manager-magazin.de/unternehmen/karriere/0,2828,178712,00.html |access-date=27 February 2012 |archive-date=14 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214001745/http://www.manager-magazin.de/unternehmen/karriere/0,2828,178712,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and '''Kim Tim Jim Vestor''',<ref name="WTKTJV">{{cite news |title=US Internet piracy case brings New Zealand arrests |first1=Matthew |last1=Barakat |first2=Nick |last2=Perry |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/20/us-internet-piracy-case-brings-new-zealand-arrests/?page=all#pagebreak |agency=[[Associated Press]] |newspaper=[[The Washington Times]] |date=20 January 2012 |access-date=27 February 2012 |archive-date=28 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428012913/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/20/us-internet-piracy-case-brings-new-zealand-arrests/?page=all#pagebreak |url-status=live }}</ref> is a Finnish-German Internet entrepreneur and political activist who lives in [[Glenorchy, New Zealand]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jamieson |first=Debbie |date=10 July 2022 |title=Dotcoms looking for nanny, chef and housekeeper at their $15m home |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/129222529/dotcoms-looking-for-nanny-chef-and-housekeeper-at-their-15m-home |access-date=10 July 2022 |website=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |language=en |archive-date=10 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010082125/https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/129222529/dotcoms-looking-for-nanny-chef-and-housekeeper-at-their-15m-home |url-status=live }}</ref>

He rose to fame in Germany in the 1990s as a [[hacker]] and an Internet entrepreneur.<ref name=":5"/> He was arrested in 1994 for [[Smuggling|trafficking]] in stolen phone calling card numbers. He was convicted on eleven charges of [[computer fraud]], ten charges of [[Cyber spying|data espionage]], and various other charges in 1998 for which he served a two-year [[suspended sentence]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite magazine |last=Gallagher |first=Sean |title=The Fast, Fabulous, Allegedly Fraudulent Life of Megaupload's Kim Dotcom |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2012/01/kim-dotcom/ |access-date=15 January 2023 |issn=1059-1028 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115112142/https://www.wired.com/2012/01/kim-dotcom/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2003, he was [[deported]] from Thailand to Germany, where he pleaded guilty to [[embezzlement]] in November 2003 and after five months in jail awaiting trial he received another 20 months suspended sentence.<ref name=":6"/>

Dotcom is the founder and former [[CEO]] of the defunct [[file-hosting service]] [[Megaupload]] (2005–2012).<ref name="investigate">{{cite web |url=http://www.florianpoullin.fr/sites/florianpoullin.fr/files/investigate.pdf |title=Merry Chrischmitz or Merry Hell? |last=Wishart |first=Ian |date=April 2010 |work=[[Investigate (magazine)|Investigate]] |access-date=31 December 2011 |archive-date=21 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121093623/http://www.florianpoullin.fr/sites/florianpoullin.fr/files/investigate.pdf |url-status=live }} p 29.</ref><ref name="news.cnet.com">{{cite web |last=Sandoval |first=Greg |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20087753-261/the-mystery-man-behind-megaupload-piracy-fight/ |title=The mystery man behind Megaupload piracy fight |publisher=CNET News |date=4 August 2011 |access-date=19 January 2012 |archive-date=21 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121211903/http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20087753-261/the-mystery-man-behind-megaupload-piracy-fight/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, the [[United States Department of Justice]] seized its website and pressed charges against Dotcom, including criminal [[copyright infringement]], [[money laundering]], [[racketeering]] and [[wire fraud]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/why-kim-dotcom-hasnt-been-extradited-3-years-after-the-us-smashed-megaupload|title=Why Kim Dotcom hasn't been extradited 3 years after the US smashed Megaupload|last=Farivar|first=Cyrus|date=18 January 2015|website=[[Ars Technica]]|access-date=26 May 2017|archive-date=4 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704104137/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/why-kim-dotcom-hasnt-been-extradited-3-years-after-the-us-smashed-megaupload/|url-status=live}}</ref> Dotcom was residing in New Zealand at the time; at the request of US authorities, New Zealand police raided his home in 2012 and arrested him. Dotcom was granted [[bail]] and initiated legal proceedings in order to challenge his arrest and the police's search and seizure of evidence.

In 2017, a New Zealand court ruled that Dotcom could be extradited to the US on fraud charges related to Megaupload. Dotcom denied any wrongdoing and has accused US authorities of pursuing a vendetta against him on behalf of politically influential Hollywood studios.<ref name="Eleanor Ainge Roy">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/20/kim-dotcom-eligible-for-extradition-to-us-new-zealand-high-court-rules |title=Kim Dotcom extradition to US can go ahead, New Zealand high court rules |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=20 February 2017 |author=Eleanor Ainge Roy |access-date=23 April 2017 |archive-date=9 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210409021923/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/20/kim-dotcom-eligible-for-extradition-to-us-new-zealand-high-court-rules |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2018, the [[New Zealand Court of Appeal]] upheld the lower court's ruling. Dotcom appealed to the [[Supreme Court of New Zealand]], which ruled in 2020 that Dotcom could be extradited to the United States, but that he could challenge the decision through [[judicial review]].<ref name=":0"/> His extradition order was eventually signed on 15 August 2024.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |last=Aikman |first=Ian |title=Kim Dotcom to be extradited from New Zealand to the US |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y363lw204o |date=15 August 2024 |access-date=15 August 2024 |work=[[BBC News]] |language=en-GB |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816004911/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y363lw204o|archive-date=16 August 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2013, Dotcom launched another [[cloud storage service]] called [[Mega (service)|Mega]], although he severed all ties with the service in 2015. He also started and funded the [[Internet Party (New Zealand)|Internet Party]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Walters |first=Laura |title=Launch day for Kim Dotcom's Internet Party |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9873341/Launch-day-for-Kim-Dotcoms-Internet-Party |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |date=27 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181207170559/http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9873341/Launch-day-for-Kim-Dotcoms-Internet-Party |archive-date=7 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> The party contested the [[2014 New Zealand general election]] under an electoral alliance with the [[Mana Movement]] and contested the [[2017 New Zealand general election|2017 general election]] independently, but failed to win any seats at either election.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet Party may try 2017 election |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dotcoms-lost-mana-but-internet-party-may-ride-again-at-2017-election/FL5FQ2YJWP4SC4NFFG73WRAKBU/ |access-date=15 January 2023 |website=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |date=25 November 2014 |language=en-NZ |archive-date=28 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028060818/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dotcoms-lost-mana-but-internet-party-may-ride-again-at-2017-election/FL5FQ2YJWP4SC4NFFG73WRAKBU/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
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