|
Dotcom, the New Zealand resident who once
flaunted a fleet of vintage cars, a fully staffed rented mansion
and globe-trotting holidays, said that his wealth had evaporated
due to mounting legal fees which had resulted in the departure
of most of his legal team.
The German national is due in a New Zealand court on Thursday,
when he may be remanded in prison for allegedly breaching his
bail conditions ahead of his extradition hearing, which has been
pushed back to mid-2015.
Dotcom, who also goes by the name of Kim Schmitz, stands accused
of massive copyright infringement related to the Megaupload file
sharing site he founded in 2005.
"My legal team has recently resigned because I ran out of money
after spending $10 million to try and defend myself," Dotcom
said on Tuesday, speaking via teleconference at a digital
technology conference in London. "I'm officially broke right
now."
Set up in 2005, Megaupload accounted for around 4 percent of
total traffic on the Internet in its heyday as users stored and
shared files containing everything from wedding videos to
Hollywood films.
(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
