Kim Jong-eun is not the world’s only cartoon villain lobbing verbal hand-grenades at the US from the sanctuary of his hermit kingdom. Kim Dotcom, the internet entrepreneur accused by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) of abetting massive online piracy, fits pretty much the same description. Except his hermit kingdom is Mordor-on-the-Shire, also known as New Zealand. And unlike the North Korean leader, Dotcom is, in the eyes of many, closer to cartoon hero than cartoon baddie.
I have arranged to have lunch with the man variously described as “hacker king” and “gangster clown” at his $24m rented mansion on a 60-acre estate outside Auckland. It’s where the 39-year-old German-born founder of the now-defunct Megaupload, a file-sharing service, has taken refuge since his release on bail last year.
Dotcom is fighting extradition to the US where, along with six associates, he is wanted for making more than $175m in allegedly illegal profits from what the FBI describes as a huge online piracy operation. Indicted for copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering, he faces up to 50 years in jail.