• Full Story

Top US attorney to defend Megaupload

Email
Print

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 2:22p.m.

Washington attorney Robert Bennett will defend megaupload (Reuters)

Washington attorney Robert Bennett will defend megaupload (Reuters)

By 3 News Online Staff

File-sharing website Megaupload has hired top US defence lawyer Robert Bennett in their bid to defend charges of mass copyright infringement.

Early today (NZ time), Mr Bennett announced he would represent the online company which faces charges from the US Federal Court on copyright infringement.

The prominent Washington attorney is most famous for defending Bill Clinton against charges of sexual harassment and Enron against allegations of corporate fraud.

Four men associated with Megaupload who were arrested at the Dotcom Mansion in Auckland yesterday were founder Kim Dotcom, 37, chief marketing officer Finn Batato, 38, chief technical officer and co-founder Mathias Ortmann, 40, all of Germany, and Dutch national Bram van der Kolk, 29, who is also a New Zealand resident.

Who is Kim Dotcom?

The raid was carried out by the New Zealand Police and the Organised & Financial Crime Agency New Zealand after an FBI-led investigation.

Read the story on yesterday’s arrests

The men now face extradition to the United States.

3 News

Become a fan of 3 News on Facebook and on Twitter.

Post a Comment

Before commenting, please take the time to read our moderation guide


(Won't be published)



Comments

25 Jan 2012 09:38p.m.

Will Trafford wrote:

Guys, CNET was acquired by CBS Interactive in 2008. They are not a part of Disney, and very few of the CNET staff support the likes of PIPA or SOPA. CBS as a parent company does, as they own the CBS TV Networks, however most CNET and Download.com staff are on record as not supporting SOPA, PIPA, or the actions taken by the FBI around MegaUpload.

25 Jan 2012 05:09p.m.

Ricc wrote:

Why isn't the US taking CNET to court? US media companies are pushing to extradite people like this man and many others. The same US media companies like CBS/CNET are the guiltiest offenders. http://youtu.be/NzS5rSvZXe8

24 Jan 2012 02:44a.m.

harriaway wrote:

First consider, if this man was an american in America and New Zealand police along with modern social development police or the justice department wanted to extradite this man to New Zealand for any crime that person committed in NZ they would not be able to do so....Wake Up Kiwis!

23 Jan 2012 11:25a.m.

Satan wrote:

@John John, One cannot underestimate the power of the Jewish state for they WILL kill themselves and everyone else to glorify God.

23 Jan 2012 10:13a.m.

colin watson wrote:

I would like to know what the fbi is doing here,and are they paying the NZ police for time wasting over the invesigation seems to me it is the american film music and moneyed people who are trying to shut down what they started. cnet which is a very large downloader is owned by disney.com and all the other film producers,and a lot of music producers that encourged downloading we should be taking them to court.

23 Jan 2012 09:50a.m.

Jock wrote:

the spotlight should be on JP Morgan and Goldman Sacs who have stolen peoples money through drivatives adn insider trading. Notice when MF Global stole billions of dollars out of invetors bank accounts not one person was charged, notice when the votes conveninetnly disappeared in Iowa not one preson was charged, Megaupload is a long arm of liberty and internet freedom, this is about US propoganda FBI guinea pigs and butt slapping politicians.

22 Jan 2012 07:03p.m.

John wrote:

@ john, did these people commit murder or any other violent act, of course not. What most probably got them in is cash flow ie: business. The article states that they are a resident not a citizen. You are innocent until proven guilty, so I'm assuming you have made them guilty already without trial. What the hell is the FBI doing in all this are they the entertainment industry, so I'm assuming the the American government owns the entertainment Industry as well as New Zealands Industry.

21 Jan 2012 07:47p.m.

john wrote:

how does immigration allow someone like this to become nz citizen when it took me 2 years to get my partner a residency and have to wait another year for permanent residence plus have to get two lots of nba from phillipines even though she had been here for previous 18 months,seems as if there is one rule for honest people and another for crooks,maybe they might change the rules or investigate how he was given nz citizenship maybe he paid a big back hander to get it.