Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom to launch New Zealand political party
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Feb. 22, 2012: Kim Dotcom, the founder of the file-sharing website Megaupload, comments after he was granted bail and released in Auckland, New Zealand. In a move bound to provoke U.S. prosecutors and entertainment executives, Dotcom is planning to offer a new online music service and a replacement of his shuttered website by years end. (AP Photo/New Zealand Herald, Brett Phibbs)
Indicted Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom says he's launching a political party in his adopted home of New Zealand to contest the country's general election this year.
In an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, Dotcom said he is founding and funding the party but will not be a candidate. Born Kim Schmitz in Germany, the 39-year-old is a New Zealand resident but not a citizen and cannot be a candidate under New Zealand law.
Dotcom says he will launch the party Monday, the second anniversary of when police stormed his mansion and arrested him. Authorities at that time also shut down Megaupload, the popular file-sharing site he founded.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}U.S. prosecutors accuse Dotcom of facilitating Internet piracy. Charged with racketeering and money laundering, he's fighting U.S. attempts to extradite him.