Kim Dotcom promises ‘interesting facts’ in legal struggle

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom said on Tuesday that “interesting facts” will emerge in his ongoing pitched battle against extradition to the United States over copyright infringement.

Speaking via Skype video link from New Zealand to the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, Dotcom promised “a really cool [court] hearing” in April focusing on evidence surrounding the January last year raid on his Auckland home.

“There will be interesting facts revealed,” said the flamboyant German-born entrepreneur and former teenage hacker whom the US Justice Department accuses of criminal copyright infringement on top of several conspiracy charges.

Dotcom reiterated his belief that his case - which shut down the Megaupload file storage site, causing 66.6 million users worldwide to suddenly lose the data they’d uploaded - was politically driven.

“Get the popcorn ready,” said Dotcom, 39, appearing like a cheerful ghostly face against a pitch-black background on a giant projection screen, “because you won’t believe what these guys did.”

And he predicted ultimate victory in a case that has captivated the online world. “I will never be in a prison in the United States,” he said to applause from his SXSW audience. “I can guarantee you that.”

US authorities allege Dotcom’s Megaupload and related file-sharing sites netted more than $175 million and cost copyright owners more than $500 million by offering pirated copies of movies, TV shows and other content.