By James Murray
An unusual email sent to disgruntled Coatesville neighbours by Kim ‘Dotcom’ Schmitz, that joked about cocaine-use and laundering money, may have missed the mark.
Dotcom sent the email, released by The Guardian, after his neighbours sent details of his past to the owners of the $30 million mansion.
Concerned that their new neighbour had a fleet of cars with the licence plates HACKER, MAFIA, GUILTY and GOD, neighbours soon discovered he had a chequered past - including a criminal conviction for insider dealing.
Dotcom is in custody awaiting a bail decision due today, after being arrested on charges of racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering, following an indictment from the US Justice Department and the closure of his file sharing website Megaupload.com.
On Friday an FBI led raid on the Coatesville mansion saw Dotcom barricade himself in a panic room in his house before being taken away by police.
Dotcom was forwarded the neighbours' email by the homeowners and decided to hit reply all:
"Dear Neighborhood-watch," began the email dated 21 April 2010. "As you all know I recently moved into the Neighborhood and I am a former hacker. Well I was just hacking into a local mail server and guess what I found.
"First of all let me assure you that having a criminal Neighbor like me comes with benefits.
"1. Our newly-opened local money laundering facility can help you with your tax fraud optimization.
"2. Our network of international insiders can provide you with valuable stock tips.
"3. My close personal relations with other (far worse) criminals can help you whenever you have to deal with a nasty Neighbor."
It continued: "In all seriousness: My wife, two kids and myself love New Zealand and 'We come in peace'.
"Fifteen years ago I was a hacker and 10 years ago I was convicted for insider trading. Hardly the kind of crimes you need to start a witch hunt for. Since then I have been a good boy, my criminal records have been cleared, and I created a successful internet company that employs 100+ people.
"All the media has to report are old news. Why? Because I have chosen to avoid the media. Just look what the media did to this Neighborhood. Scary.
"Now you can make a choice: 1: Call Interpol, the CIA, and the Queen of England and try to get me on the next plane out of New Zealand. 2: Sit back, relax and give me a chance to do good for New Zealand and possibly the Neighborhood.
"If you feel like it come over for coffee sometimes. And don't forget to bring the cocaine (joke). All the best, Kim."
His neighbours may have missed the joke, with retired lawyer France Komoroske satying it “scared the hell out of everybody”.
Dotcom is indeed a colourful character - as our colleagues over at The Rock have illustrated
One neighbour asked if he had genuinely tried to hack their emails to which Dotcom replied:
"Do you really think I hacked your emails? Nonsense. One of my agents has infiltrated your family :-)."
Ms Komoroske said the decision to give Dotcom residency in New Zealand made a mockery of the country’s immigration system.
"New Zealand doesn't seem to care about moral character if you've got enough bucks.”
US authorities are currently seeking Dotcom’s extradition from New Zealand.
Dotcom denies all the charges against him.
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