Kim Dotcom
| Kim Dotcom | |
|---|---|
Kim Dotcom in 2013
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| Born |
Kim Schmitz 21 January 1974 Kiel, West Germany |
| Residence | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Nationality | Finnish and German |
| Other names | Kimble, Kim Tim Jim Vestor |
| Education | Hauptschule |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Organization | Megaupload; Mega |
| Known for | Founder of Megaupload.com, and Mega.co.nz |
| Political party | Internet Party (2014-) |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Donnelly |
| Children | 5 |
| Website | www.kim.com |
Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz; 21 January 1974), also known as Kimble and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, is a German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur, businessman, musician, and political party founder who resides in Auckland, New Zealand. He first rose to fame in Germany in the 1990s as a teenage Internet entrepreneur.
In 1994 he received a two-year suspended sentence for computer data espionage and fraud because he was underaged, and received a similar sentence later in 2003 for insider trading and embezzlement. Dotcom was the founder of now-defunct file hosting service Megaupload. Subsequently he has been accused of criminal copyright infringement and other charges, such as money laundering, racketeering and wire fraud, by the U.S. Department of Justice. Dotcom has denied the charges, and is currently fighting attempts to extradite him to the United States. However, on February 20, 2017, a New Zealand court ruled that Kim, as well as co-accused Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato, could be extradited to the US on charges related to Megaupload. Kim and his lawyer will appeal the decision. In January 2013 Dotcom launched another cloud storage service called Mega. Mega uses encryption to prevent government or third-party "spies" from invading users' privacy. Dotcom also started and funded the Internet Party. They contested the 2014 New Zealand elections under an electoral alliance with the Mana Movement, but failed to win any seats.
Dotcom was born as Kim Schmitz in Kiel, West Germany. His mother was Finnish so he holds a Finnish passport, and he has siblings in Finland. His father was German.
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Wikipedia