New Zealand Agrees to Extradite Kim Dotcom to United States

Kim Dotcom, an entrepreneur who faces charges in relation to the file-sharing website Megaupload, has been fighting extradition for more than a decade.

German tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom sits in a chair during a court hearing in Auckland, New Zealand, on Sept. 24, 2015. Nigel Marple/Reuters

New Zealand’s justice minister has agreed to extradite Kim Dotcom, who is facing criminal charges relating to the file-sharing website Megaupload, to the United States.

German-born Dotcom, whose real name is Kim Schmitz, has been fighting extradition from New Zealand since 2012 in connection with Megaupload, which began operating in 2005 but is now defunct.