It’s been a little over eight months since Kim Dotcom’s house was raided and all of his assets were seized. The Megaupload founder has been fighting for the return of his assets ever since. After numerous roadblocks and only a few wins, he finally secured a major win.
The New Zealand High Court released the equivalent of $4.83 USD to Dotcom today. Wired reports that the money was taken out of a government bond that he paid to gain permanent residence in the country. As expected, the money will go to paying local legal fees. Unfortunately, Dotcom’s U.S. representation, Ira Rothken, will go unpaid as he couldn’t secure the full amount that was requested.
Like always, there are a few caveats to this latest ruling. The money released to Dotcom can’t be used to pay the legal fees of his associates who are also under fire. The decision was made after New Zealand’s Police Commissioner said that they have their own “substantial restrained funds.”
For his part, Dotcom has been rather mum on the release. He just made a single Tweet and has only been retweeting news stories about the funds being released.
BREAKING NEWS: The High Court just ruled the release of restrained assets to cover our legal fees in New Zealand.
Interestingly enough, Dotcom also had a little exchange with Digg founder Kevin Rose.
“@kevinrose: @KimDotcom follow/dm me, would love to chat” Done 😉
Dotcom is somewhat of a minor celebrity in the tech industry. He’s already rubbed elbows with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Will there be an Instagram picture of Dotcom hanging out with Rose in the near future? We can only hope.
As for now, Dotcom is waiting to see the evidence the FBI has against him after the high court ruled that the information must be released. He will use to mount a defense for the charges against both Megaupload and himself. His extradition trial is set for March of next year.
Check out the document containing the high court’s ruling at your leisure: