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Dotcom share-trading convictions revealed

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Dotcom share-trading convictions revealed

3News NZ

Kim Dotcom had been convicted on eight share-related charges in Hong Kong

Kim Dotcom had been convicted on eight share-related charges in Hong Kong

Kim Dotcom was convicted on eight business charges in Hong Kong just a month after he was granted conditional residency in New Zealand.

The 38-year-old founder of file-sharing website Megaupload was granted New Zealand residency in November 2010.

Dotcom is currently on bail awaiting an extradition hearing. He is facing a number of internet piracy charges in the US in relation to the Megaupload site.

He was arrested on January 20 after a spectacular police raid on his $30 million rented mansion in Coastesville, north of Auckland.

Dotcom, a German national, applied for residency under the Investor Plus category, after investing $10 million in government bonds.

He was given a special direction which allowed him to gain residency, even though he did not meet good character requirements.

Dotcom had been previously convicted of insider trading and computer hacking in Germany, but these convictions were wiped under Germany's clean slate legislation.

However, in official documents from Immigration New Zealand released yesterday, it has been revealed that in December 2010, Dotcom was facing eight charges relating to the purchase of shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Immigration New Zealand was advised a month later that Dotcom had been convicted on the charges and fined HK$8000 (NZ$1250), Radio New Zealand reports.

The documents show that under the Immigration Act, because of his convictions, the default position is that Dotcom would not have been eligible for residency.

However, this position can be overridden by a special direction from a senior official, which is what happened in Dotcom's case.

Immigration New Zealand stood by its decision to grant residency, saying Dotcom's character issues were outweighed by the benefit of his financial investments in New Zealand.

NZN

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Comments

9/03/2012 6:35:56 p.m.

Anonymous wrote:

@Marty Internet traffic is much harder to police than you might think to start with deep packet inspection to see what users are doing is an illegal violation of privacy in most of the world (unless there's a warrant) then there's the fact that there are a number of ways to hide what you're doing from view by anyone thanks to traffic encryption services (such as VPNs and TOR to name just two) Also given the state of the internet these days (copyright mafia running extortion schemes and pushing for harsher laws which will have impact on law abiding users) there will likely be more and more new ways created to protect privacy online due to the demand for them.

9/03/2012 1:45:38 p.m.

Rachel wrote:

So, if he wasn't someone we would have granted residency to due to his record, then why was he able to 'buy' his way in???? That's ultimately what he did! So what NZ is actually saying to the world is that, if you have enough money, no matter your past, you are welcome! ugh...

9/03/2012 10:34:41 a.m.

Marty wrote:

On the face of it I don't believe he is guilty in respect of Megaupload with the illegal downloader being the guilty party and the responsibility of the country involved to put systems in place to monitor and police such actions. Technology os a sign of the times and very simple for a country to verify large downloads and tag items such as cinematic movies just realeased, recent video releases and new music for an easy start. If you can police vehicle traffic you can police technological traffic. As for character and crimes committed in the past his history not good. It is two faced that we can let someone like this with several aliases and historical crimes in on his fat wallet and yet someone from England working hard, investing everything in a business with no convictions and employing people gets the piss off back to England because of a slightly doggy heart. Yet he was still working as a mechanic a fairly intensive job so has not come here to to sit and bludge off the medical system. Kim Schmitz (Real name), Kim Tim Jim Vestor (Alias), Kim Dotcom (Media Name) has said on TV he is innocent and has grown up with a family. He seems innocent (Megaupload) but has convictions in Germany, Finland and Hong Kong. Whatever is underneath the Megaupload saga NZ will be either vindicated as the heroes or made complete dickheads by the states. Either way immigration is still and embarrassment for this country.

9/03/2012 10:02:31 a.m.

Chargone wrote:

so the guy's not actually someone we wanted in the country in the first place. doesn't change that the way this is being handled is bloody corrupt. the charges are an absolute nonsense also. copyright infringement, for example, is NOT a criminal offense in the US. it is a civil matter. none of the other charges can possibly stick if he is found not to be responsible for any infringement. under US law, had he been doing everything he was supposed to (and what evidence there is says he had) he is not liable for that. the US government took actions that destroyed evidence already when they prevented his company paying it's bills (resulting in the hosting company deleting the data after however long with unpayed bills. yay <_<) they claim Megaupload Paying it's Hosting Bills was evidence of money laundering. it goes on like that. (and i'm wishing i was better at explaining stuff. go check out techdirt.com and it's articles on the subject, their reporting's more useful due to actually knowing what the hell they're talking about and not spinning it for maximum sensationalism, and they've been following this from the US side from the begining.)

9/03/2012 8:16:09 a.m.

Roscoe wrote:

Not forgiving all but these seem to be relatively minor offences compared to the outrageous invasion of the man's home, business and property - let alone the mindless terrorising of his family. This really does smell bad on the part of the US/FBI and there needs to be serious investigation into the basis for their claims... We have had countless incidents of white collar crime in New Zealand that exceed offences against Mr Dotcom - he was fined $1,250 in Hong Kong?