Kim Dotcom timeline: An extradition 13 years in the making
Kim Dotcom isn't giving up, even after the Justice Minister signed an order to have him deported to the US. Photo: RNZ
It took nearly 13 years, a raid on one of New Zealand's most expensive houses, the launch and failure of a political party, and a domestic spying scandal that rocked national politics, but Kim Dotcom's extradition to the United States has been signed.
Dotcom has vowed to keep fighting.
Here's a look back at all that has happened in the years since police met in 2011 to discuss an FBI request to investigate Dotcom and his Megaupload associates.
September 2011New Zealand police begin an investigation into Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom after receiving a request for assistance from the FBI. They are told Dotcom could be holding a birthday party on 21 January, and this might be an opportune time to raid his house.
14 December 2011A planning meeting is held, attended by representatives from the police, Crown Law, the Ministry of Justice, the police's legal section and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).
16 December 2011The GCSB begins spying on Dotcom at the request of the police. They are asked to provide intelligence about where Dotcom's birthday party is going to take place, which targets will be attending the party, and anything that may assist in mitigating risks - such as security measures at the mansion or access to/possession of firearms.
18 January 2012A provisional arrest warrant is issued by Judge David McNaughton at the North Shore District Court.
20 January 2012At 7.50am, as part of global raids, regular police officers and Special Tactics Group (STG) members raid Dotcom's mansion. Those arrested in New Zealand are: Dotcom and his former Megaupload colleagues Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk, and Finn Batato. The charges on the US indictment in relation to the now-defunct website Megaupload accuse them of racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering and fraud.
Mathias Ortmann (2nd L) and Bram van der Kolk (L) leave court in Auckland in December, 2015 Photo: MICHAEL BRADLEY/AFP
The four men appear in the North Shore District Court before Judge McNaughton to seek bail.
25 January 2012Judge McNaughton denies Dotcom bail, saying there's a "real and significant risk" he will flee the country.
3 February 2012Dotcom appeals the bail ruling at the Auckland High Court, but Justice Asher also denies bail.
22 February 2012Judge Nevin Dawson (in the North Shore District Court) overturns the two earlier decisions, and grants Dotcom bail.
2 March 2012American authorities formally lodge papers in the North Shore District Court, requesting the extradition of Dotcom and the three other men.
Dotcom is granted up to $60,000 a month to be released from frozen assets: $300,000 from his Rabobank account in instalments of $40,000 a month (to pay for staff), plus $20,000 a month (for living costs) to be derived from interest on New Zealand government bonds.
22-23 May 2012At a hearing in the High Court in Auckland, Dotcom's lawyers seek a judicial review of the raid on their client's home, arguing it was illegal - the warrant used was too broad and deficient. During this hearing, it is revealed the FBI has already taken copied material back to the US, without permission.
6 June 2012A judicial review into the raid is held in the High Court in Auckland. Dotcom's lawyers argue the search and seizure was illegal, and the Crown and the FBI unlawfully couriered seven copies of material to the US in breach of the Solicitor-General's ruling, which stated all evidence must stay in the custody of the police. The Crown argues it was not in breach of the ruling, as only copies were couriered - not originals.
28 June 2012Justice Winkelmann releases her ruling, which finds that the warrants used to seize material were too broad, did not describe the offences properly, and were therefore unlawful. It also finds that it was unlawful for the FBI and Crown to send cloned material to the US.
7-9 August 2012A hearing is held in the High Court in Auckland. Dotcom, police and STG officers give evidence on the details of the lead-up to the raid, including the day itself. Dotcom says he was kicked and punched by officers. Officers deny this but admit they did have to stand on his hands, and his fingers bled.
Dotcom's lawyers question STG officers about the need for helicopters and armed police, and accuse the police of being heavy-handed. Police footage of the raid is shown. Police claim Dotcom is a real threat with a history of violence, and they say there is a record of firearms being stored at his mansion.
While Detective Inspector Grant Wormald is on the stand, he is questioned about who was present in the room at a 14 December 2011 planning meeting. He will not reveal who one of the parties was, but it is later revealed that it was the GCSB.
16 August 2012Acting Prime Minister Bill English signs a ministerial certificate directing no disclosure of GCSB information.
Kim Dotcom (pictured in 2014). Photo: RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
Prime Minister John Key says the GCSB's surveillance of Dotcom was illegal, as Dotcom was a New Zealand resident and the GCSB is not supposed to spy on its citizens or residents. Key refers the matter to Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Paul Neazor.
The Inspector-General finds the GCSB spying illegal, as it relied on incorrect police information about Dotcom's residency status and it did not check further.
1 October 2012A review is ordered into the GCSB, and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Rebecca Kitteridge is appointed to oversee it.
20 January 2013Dotcom launches a new business, Mega.co.nz, with a party at his mansion including a reconstruction of the raid, dancers, DJs and an appearance by New Zealand musician Tiki Taane. It coincides with the anniversary of the raid.
7 March 2013A Court of Appeal judgement upholds a decision in the High Court that Dotcom can sue the GCSB for damages.
April 2013Kitteridge's report is leaked ahead of its planned release, and says the GCSB may have illegally spied on 88 people in New Zealand during 56 operations since 2003.
Key signals a law change to allow GCSB to spy on New Zealanders.
30 April 2013Dotcom and others lodge a claim for about $5 million in compensation against the police and the GCSB in the High Court in Auckland.
Dotcom comes face to face with then Prime Minister John Key at a parliamentary select committee in 2013. Photo: Marty Melville / AFP
Legislation is introduced to widen the GCSB's powers so it can spy on New Zealanders to prevent cyber attacks, and on behalf of other agencies like the police, Defence Force and Security Intelligence Service (SIS). Opposition parties and submitters to the bill say it widens powers too much and will allow the collection of metadata, which shows patterns of communication.
August 2013The GCSB bill passes with the vote of United Future MP Peter Dunne. Key says New Zealanders will not be subject to widespread spying.
Police say no criminal charges will be laid against anyone who spied on Dotcom.
26 November 2013The Green Party releases a police summary of the police investigation into whether Dotcom was spied on illegally, which reveals three GCSB agents refused to be interviewed during the investigation.
27 November 2013At a preliminary hearing for the compensation claim, Dotcom's legal team tells the High Court it has never been given a copy of the police investigation summary, and questions what other evidence the Crown has not disclosed. The lawyers threaten to summon government spies to give evidence in a closed court session.
January 2014Prison operator Serco apologises to Dotcom for the treatment he received when he first arrived at Mt Eden Prison after the raids.
Dotcom cancels an event - about to be held on the second anniversary of the raids - to launch his new Internet Party, after being warned it could fall foul of electoral law.
19 February 2014The Court of Appeal rules the search warrants used to raid Dotcom's house were lawful. However, the judges say the decision to send copies of seized material to US authorities breached court orders.
21 March 2014The Supreme Court refuses to allow Dotcom access to more FBI documents about his case, saying the Extradition Act does not require copies of all documents related to the case. His legal team only has a 109-page summary of the evidence against him.
27 March 2014Dotcom launches the Internet Party at a low-key event, without any confirmed candidates or formal registration.
April 2014Six Hollywood studios launch a civil claim against Dotcom and now-defunct Megaupload.
24 May 2014The courts lift suppression on the 'record of case', a 200-page document summarising the evidence the US plans to use in the extradition hearing.
Hone Harawira, Laila Harre, Kim Dotcom and Vikram Kumar. Photo: RNZ / Kim Baker-Wilson
The Mana Party agrees to form an alliance with the Internet Party to contest the general election. Two days later, veteran politician and activist Laila Harre is confirmed as the Internet Party leader.
June 2014A judge finds ACT MP John Banks guilty of filing a false electoral return, following crucial evidence from Dotcom that he signed off two $25,000 donations at a lunch attended by Banks. He is later acquitted after it is revealed the Crown did not put forward a memorandum in which Dotcom contradicted his own version of events.
15 September 2014At an event billed as the 'Moment of Truth', US lawyer and journalist Glenn Greenwald claims Key has misled the New Zealand public and that New Zealanders have been the target of mass surveillance by the GCSB and international spy agencies. Key denies this, saying ground work was done on it, but it never went ahead. He says he will reveal evidence on this to protect his reputation.
Dotcom also promises to reveal what Key knew about him, and when, at the event, but fails to produce any evidence on the night. An apparent email from the chairman and chief executive of Warner Bros, suggesting Key had been involved in a plan to grant Dotcom residency so he could then be extradited to the US, is dismissed as a hoax.
21 September, 2014After National is elected to lead a third-term government, Dotcom says his brand was "poison" for the Internet-Mana alliance, which gained just 1 percent of the party vote, with no seats in Parliament.
It is revealed Dotcom did not disclose a dangerous driving conviction when he applied for permanent residency, an omission that could be grounds for deportation. Immigration New Zealand launches a review of his residency status (that report is later concluded by the results are not released pending the end of legal proceedings in his extradition case).
November 2014Dotcom's long-serving lawyers, Paul Davison and Willy Akel, quit the case. Dotcom claims he is broke, and it is later revealed Davison and Akel are owed $2.5 million in unpaid legal fees. Dotcom dodges a Crown attempt to remand him in custody again, but a court imposes strict new bail conditions that ban him from hiring boats or helicopters.
December 2014The Supreme Court rules the search warrants used to raid the Dotcom mansion in 2012 were legal.
26 February 2015Dotcom pleads with a court to release more of his frozen funds so he can pay his rent and buy groceries.
August 2015The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) rules there is no evidence a detective committed perjury during Dotcom's court action.
14 September 2015The Court of Appeal dismisses a bid by Dotcom to delay the extradition hearing, saying Dotcom's application for a stay in proceedings can instead be heard on the first day of the extradition hearing.
21 September 2015The extradition hearing for Dotcom and his three co-accused - van der Kolk, Ortmann and Batato - begins in Auckland.
24 November 2015After a marathon 10-week trial, the extradition hearing wraps up in Auckland.
The Crown lawyer acting on behalf of the US, Christine Gordon, tells the court the men were knowingly obtaining money by infringing copyrights.
The defence lawyers have attacked the Crown's case throughout the trial on two fronts: that the charges in the US indictment are not extraditable offences; and that, even if they were, the summary of evidence that prosecutors presented was cherry-picked and unreliable.
23 December 2015Judge Dawson rules that Dotcom and his three co-accused are eligible for extradition to the US to stand trial on criminal charges. Dotcom vows to appeal the charges with his lawyers predicting it will go all the way to the Supreme Court.
9 February 2016The United States Government asks the High Court in Auckland to speed up Kim Dotcom's appeal process.
July 2016The 12-bedroom Dotcom mansion in Coatesville where Dotcom lived when the raid occurred is sold.
25 July 2016Lawyers for film studio 20th Century Fox accuse Dotcom of breaching a court order freezing his assets.
An American appeals court rejects a bid by Dotcom to recover millions of dollars in assets ordered seized by the US government.
August-September 2016The appeal hearing is held for Dotcom and his co-accused against the ruling they are eligible for extradition to the United States.
It is held at the High Court in Auckland, with the Crown arguing evidence that was not allowed at the initial hearing would not have helped their case anyway.
The defence said the District Court judge failed to keep an open mind.
The appeal was the first time a New Zealand court case was livestreamed.
20 February 2017The High Court rules Dotcom and his three co-accused are eligible for extradition to US. Despite the ruling, Dotcom calls it a win of sorts and vows to continue appealing.
25 August 2017The High Court decision is released finding the GCSB's entire surveillance operation against Dotcom and his associates was illegal.
3 October 2017Dotcom's bid to recover $US40 million of assets seized by the US government is rejected by the US Supreme Court.
3 November 2017Dotcom and his ex-wife reach a confidential settlement with police over the 2012 raid on their mansion.
21 February 2018Immigration New Zealand confirms it has made a decision on whether Dotcom should be deported over missing information in his application, but won't make a recommendation to the government until court proceedings are finished. (In 2024 it has still not been released).
26 March 2018The Human Rights Review Tribunal finds the Crown breached Dotcom's privacy and should pay $90,000 in damages.
5 July 2018The Court of Appeal releases its finding, upholding the decisions of the High Court and District Court that Dotcom should be extradited to the US.
10 September 2018The Crown appeals Dotcom's privacy win.
2 October 2018The High Court backs the Crown, saying Dotcom's privacy was not breached when the government declined to release all its files on him.
5 December 2018A Supreme Court hearing is held to decide whether Dotcom's case against extradition should be heard.
June 2019Dotcom and his co-accused have their final appeal against extradition in the Supreme Court.
Their lawyers argue the initial District Court decision was so flawed that it never should have been upheld.
They also argue that the Megaupload website was never intended to encourage copyright breaches.
Crown lawyers, on behalf of the US, argue their behaviour is equivalent participation in an organised criminal group.
4 November 2020The Supreme Court delivers its ruling paving the way for extradition, but leaves it subject to a judicial review.
5 May 2021Dotcom attempted to delay the judicial review hearing in the Court of Appeal on the basis the judges were the same ones that made the original decision. He loses that bid.
10 May 2022It is announced that two of Dotcom's co-accused - van der Kolk and Ortmann -have done a deal to avoid extradition.
They will instead face charges in New Zealand.
Finn Batato and his wife Anastasia arrive at court in December, 2015. Photo: MICHAEL BRADLEY/AFP
Finn Batato dies of terminal cancer. He was 49.
The US had already dropped extradition charges against him.
15 June 2023van der Kolk and Ortmann are sentenced in the High Court in Auckland, having previously pleaded guilty to charges including participating in a criminal group, causing loss by deception and conspiring to dishonestly obtain documents.
Ortmann was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison and van der Kolk to two years and six months.
September 2023A hearing is held in the Court of Appeal in Wellington as Dotcom fights a judge's decision that would see his hard-drives and passwords released to the United States' FBI.
21 June 2024van der Kolk and Ortmann are banned from being company directors for five years.
27 June 2024The Court of Appeal gives the go ahead for Dotcom's hard-drives and passwords released to the United States' FBI.
A second appeal against an order for Dotcom and his wife to pay $55,000 in costs was also dismissed.
15 August 2024It's announced that Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed Dotcom's extradition order.
Dotcom says he will appeal the extradition, saying he won't get a fair hearing the US.
