More charges laid in Megaupload case

Feb 17, 2012, 23:07 GMT

Wellington - More charges have been laid against those accused of internet piracy in the Megaupload case, it was reported on Saturday.

The New Zealand Herald said additional charges of criminal copyright infringement and wire fraud had been filed in the United States.

New Zealand police raided Kim Dotcom's north of Auckland at dawn on January 20, at the request of US authorities.

Dotcom and three associates were arrested in the raid and have all since appeared in court ahead of extradition hearings. They are accused of racketeering, money laundering and copyright infringement relating to the file-sharing internet site Megaupload.

The latest indictment alleges they reproduced copyright works directly from third-party websites, including from YouTube, for reproduction and distribution on Megavideo.com.

They are also accused of creating a false impression that Megavideo.com hosted primarily user-generated content instead of copyright-infringing content.

Three of the four men arrested by police have since been granted bail.

Mathias Ortmann, 40, from Germany, Bram van der Kolk, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, and Finn Batato 38, a citizen and resident of Germany, are all living at the same Auckland address under strict electronic bail conditions.

Dotcom, 38, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, remains in prison. All four deny any wrongdoing.