Monday, October 20, 2014
Kim Dotcom will have to reveal how much money he has after losing a bid to keep his assets a secret from five Hollywood film studios.
The internet entrepreneur, who is facing extradition to the US over alleged copyright infringement, launched an appeal earlier this month against a New Zealand high court order requiring him to disclose his worldwide financial assets to the studios.
But a court of appeal judgment delivered on Monday upheld the high court order – although Dotcom will be able to keep them secret from the public.
And he has been told to pay the studios’ legal costs for his failed appeal.
The high court order came after the studios, which have filed a civil suit in the US against Dotcom claiming more than $100m for copyright breaches, were worried they might not get all that money because Dotcom was spending it.
His spending includes at least $3.5m donated to the Internet party in the lead-up to the general election and a $5m bounty put up for information on the US and New Zealand governments.
Dotcom’s New Zealand assets are already subject to a foreign restraining order, which was put in place in the aftermath of his arrest in January 2012.
Meanwhile, a high court judge has dismissed a judicial review bid by Dotcom over the handling of his extradition case by the district court.
