MegaUpload Crime Boss

Xah Lee, 2012-01-21

So, recently FBI bursted the file sharing site MegaUpload. Here's some juicy info i gathered.

• The site is the world's 72th most busy site, as ranked by traffic by Alexa.com.
• Its founder is Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz; b1974), with past criminal records. With crimes such as hacking, insider trading, embezzlement.

He's got 18 expensive cars, Mercedes-Benzes, a pink 1959 Cadillac, Maserati GranCabrio, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé, …, totalling estimated $4.9M.

Here's a 6 min video intro.

Kim Dotcom Mansion at Coatesville, Auckland, New Zealand

Here's the mansion he lives in. The mansion is Worth $24 million.

According to time.com: «$12,000: The alleged cost per day of the Hong Kong luxury hotel room hosting Megaupload's main office.»

Some excerpts from Wikipedia:

In 2001, Schmitz purchased $375,000 worth of shares of the nearly bankrupt company LetsBuyIt.com and subsequently announced his intention to invest EUR 50 million in the company. Unknown to others, Schmitz did not have the funds available to invest, although the announcement caused the share value of LetsBuyIt.com to jump by nearly 300%. Schmitz quickly sold the shares and profited $1.5 million as a result.

On 21 March 2005, Schmitz founded Megaupload Limited, a Hong Kong-based file hosting and sharing business that eventually became the 13th most popular site on the internet[23] with over 150 employees, US $175 million revenues,[24] 50 million visitors daily,[23] and estimated to be responsible at its peak for 4% of all internet traffic.[23][25]

References

• Megaupload Founder Kim Dotcom, By the Numbers 2012-01-21 By Nick Carbone. @ newsfeed.time.com…
• Google cut off Megaupload's ad money voluntarily back in 2007 2012-01-20 By Nate Anderson. @ arstechnica.com…
• File-sharing kingpin arrested in New Zealand at US request 2012-01-20 @ m.nbr.co.nz…
• Kimble plans “Ultimate Rally”: Fantasist's latest venture 2004-09-30 By John Leyden. @ www.theregister.co.uk…
• Kim Schmitz