A New Zealand judge made clear that he would not allow for further delays in the Kim Dotcom extradition hearing, local media reported Thursday.
In a ruling, Auckland District Court Judge Nevin Dawson denied the Megaupload founder’s bid to throw another wrench into the process, which has been delayed at least 10 times in recent years. (Last month, the Court of Appeal of New Zealand also ruled against Dotcom’s attempt to push the hearing back.)
The ruling means that Dotcom’s defense team will now have to present its case as to why he should not be sent to the United States to face criminal charges stemming from the now-shuttered cloud storage site.
In total, American authorities allege that the "Mega Conspiracy… generated more than $175 million in criminal proceeds and caused more than half a billion dollars in harm to copyright owners."
Dotcom still faces over a dozen American criminal charges of copyright infringement, racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. There's also a civil case brought in April 2014 by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and US prosecutors have also brought a civil forfeiture case.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Dotcom argued that the American case against him is "flawed."
He continued: "Sadly, because of the limited focus of such an extradition hearing and the United States imposed restrictions, I can’t call the required and planned expert evidence to simply answer the incorrect factual assertions by the United States."
