(TorrentFreak) US forfeiture
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IN
THE
UNITED
STATES
DISTRICT
COURT
FORTHEEASTERNDISTRICTOFVIRGINIA
Alexandria
Division
FILED
23IH
JUL
2^
P
U=
3Lj
^utAAhuKiA.
YlftuiNlA
UNITED
STATES
OF
AMERICA,
Plaintiff
v
ALLASSETS
LISTED
IN
ATTACHMENT
A,
ANDALL
INTEREST,
BENEFITS,
ANDASSETS
TRACEABLETHERETO,
Defendants
in
Rem
Civil
Action
No
/'/^ff^^fe
J
VERIFIED
OMPL INT
FOR
FORFEITURE
N
REM
Comes
now
thePlaintiff,UnitedStatesof*America,throughitsundersignedattorneys,andallegesasfollows:
N TURE
OF
THE TION
1.TheUnitedStatesbringsthisactioninremseekingtheforfeiture
of
allright,title,
andinterestinallassetslistedinAttachmentA,andallpropertytraceablethereto(collectively,
the DefendantProperties ).
2.TheUnitedStates'claimsarisefromaschemebythe MegaConspiracy —aninternationalcriminalenterpriserunbyKimDotcom,FinnBatato,JuliusBencko,
Sven
Echtcrnach,MathiasOrtmann,
Andrus
Nomm,
Bramvan
der
Kolk,
andbusinessentities
MegauploadLimitedandVestorLimited—toengageincriminalcopyrightinfringementona
massivescaleandlaundertheproceeds.
3.Assetforthbelow,theDefendantPropertiesconstitutetheproceeds
of
theconspiracy'scriminalcopyrightinfringement,propertyusedorintendedtobeusedtocommitor
facilitatethecommission
ofa
criminalcopyrightoffenseandproperlyinvolvedinthelaunderingPage1
of42
Case 1:14-cv-00969-LO-TRJ Document 1 Filed 07/29/14 Page 1 of 42 PageID# 1
of
suchproceeds,andarethereforesubjecttoforfeiturepursuantto18U.S.C.§§981(a)(1)(A)
and(a)(1)(C),985,and2323(a)(1).
JURISDI TION NDVENUE
4.ThisCourthassubjectmatterjurisdictionoveractionscommencedbythe
UnitedStatesunder28U.S.C.§1345,andoverforfeitureactionsunder28U.S.C.§1355(a).
5.ThisCourthas
in
rem
jurisdictionovertheDefendantPropertiesunder28U.S.C.§1355(b)(2)becausetheyarelocatedinforeigncountries,orhavebeendetainedandseizedpursuanttocompetentauthority
of
foreigngovernments.
6.Venueisproperwithinthisjudicialdistrictunder28U.S.C.§1355(b)(1)(A)
becauseactsandomissionsgivingrisetotheforfeituretookplaceintheEasternDistrict
of
Virginia,andunder28U.S.C.§1355(b)(1)(B)and18U.S.C.§981(h)becauseacriminal
prosecutionhasbeenbroughtinthisDistrictbasedontheviolationsthatarethebasesfor
forfeiture.
F TU L
LLEG TIONS
I
Relevant
Persons
and
Entities
7.
KimDotcom,whohas
alsobeen
known
as
Kim
Schmitz and
Kim
TimJim
Vestor, isaresident
of
bothHongKongand
New
Zealand,andadualcitizen
of
Finlandand
Germany.Dotcomisthefounder
of
MegauploadLimited( MUL )andMegamediaLimited
( MMG ).UntilonoraboutAugust14,2011,DotcomwastheChiefExecutiveOfficerfor
MUL,andwas,atthetime
of
theMegaConspiracy'stakedownonoraboutJanuary20,2012,MUL'sChiefInnovationOfficer.Asthehead
of
theMegaConspiracy,Dotcomemployedmore
than30peopleresidinginapproximatelyninecountries.Fromtheonsetofthe
Mega
Conspiracy
throughtoJanuary20,2012,Dotcomsupervisedthedevelopment
of
thewebsitesandcompanies
utilizedintheMegaConspiracy.Dotcomdirectedthecreation
of
thenetworkinfrastructure
Page2
of
42
Case 1:14-cv-00969-LO-TRJ Document 1 Filed 07/29/14 Page 2 of 42 PageID# 2
behindtheMegaConspiracywebsites,negotiatedcontractswithInternetServiceProvidersandadvertisers,administeredthedomainnamesusedbytheMegaConspiracy,andexercised
ultimatecontroloveralldecisionsintheMegaConspiracy.Dotcomhasarrangedmillions
of
dollarsinpaymentsforthecomputerserversutilizedbytheMULandMMGpropertiesaround
theworld,andhasalsodistributedproceeds
of
theConspiracytohisco-conspirators.Dotcomis
thedirectorandsoleshareholder
of
bothVestorLimitedandKingdomInternationalVentures
Limited,whichhavebeenusedtoholdhisownershipinterestsin
MUL-
andMMG-related
properties;forexample,
Dotcom
ownsapproximately68%ofMegaupload.com,Megaclick.com,
andMegapix.com,and100%
of
theregisteredcompaniesbehindMegavideo.com,
Megaporn.com,and
Megapay.com,
through
Vestor
Limited.Dotcom
haspersonallydistributeda
linktoacopyofacopyrightedworkon,andhasreceivedatleastoneinfringingcopy
ofa
copyrightedwork
from,
theMegaSites.Additionally,onnumerousoccasions,
Dotcom
received
copyrightinfringementtakedownnoticesfromthird-partycompaniessubmittedpursuanttothe
DigitalMillenniumCopyrightAct( DMCA ).Thesecopyrightinfringementtakedownnotices
identifythecopyrightedworkthathasbeeninfringed,itslocation,andtheowner.Incalendar
year2010alone,Dotcomreceivedmorethan$42millionfromtheMegaConspiracy.8.MegauploadLimitedwastheregisteredownerofMegaupload.com,theprimarywebsiteoperatedbytheMegaConspiracy,andMegaclick.com,asitethatofferedadvertising
associatedwithMegaConspiracyproperties.MULisaregisteredcompanyinHongKongwitha
registrynumber
of
0835149.
MUL
hasanumber
of
bankaccountsinHongKongthathavebeenusedtofacilitatetheoperations
of
theMegaConspiracy.Dotcom,inadditiontoholdingthetitle
of
ChiefExecutiveOfficer
of
MULuntilasrecentlyasAugust2011,owned,through
VestorLimited,approximately68%
of
theshares
of
MUL;MathiasOrtmann,throughNetplus
Page3
of
42
Case 1:14-cv-00969-LO-TRJ Document 1 Filed 07/29/14 Page 3 of 42 PageID# 3
