Megaupload founder, German-Finnish computer programmer and businessman Kim Schmitz who legally changed his surname to Dotcom, as a tribute to the technology that made him a millionaire and that led to him being arrested by the New Zealand police on January 20, 2012.
The computer geek before the latest arrest has been arrested on at least four previous occasions, but that before he founded the world's most popular file sharing website Megaupload.com.
Coatesville Mansion:
Schmitz was arrested from his 20-hectare NZ$30M ultramodern mansion at Coatesville, near Auckland which he had named as Dotcom mansion. Kim had recently come out of hiding, a number of his cars were spotted in Europe last summer. He lived in Hong Kong and New Zealand and held dual citizen of Finland and Germany. The mansion he was living had high tech locking mechanisms and a safe room, police had to disable all the locking mechanisms and then had to break the door of his safe room, where they finally found Kim holding a firearm. The mansion is said to be one of the most expensive in New Zealand.
Cars:
He owned at least 18 luxury cars including a pink Cadillac, a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drop Head Coupe with ‘GOD’ numberplate, two Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM with the numberplates ‘GOOD’ and ‘EVIL’, a Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG with ‘GUILTY’ and a Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG with a ‘HACKER’ plate among others. In total 30 cars and motorbikes were seized from his property.
New Year Eve's Firework Celebration:
Kim sponsored the 2011 New Year Eve's fireworks in Auckland, the fireworks that lasted around ten minutes cost a whopping US$ 500,000. The works were organized in celebration of Immigration New Zealand granting residency to the Dotcom family. Kim watched the display along with his wife from a helicopter nearby.
Participation In Gumball 3000 Rally:
He also raced cars in the Gumball 3000 Rally, a Cannonball Run-like global competition on public roads in locations that change every year. In at least one Gumball race, Dotcom was videotaped driving a black Mercedes sedan in which he zipped past a police officer. Referring to his nickname, Dotcom smiled into the camera, saying, "Dr Evil is always getting away with it."
# 01 Multi-player Player In Modern Warfare 3:
Kim known by the gaming name of "MEGARACER" was apparently the number one player in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, he posted a video on his youtube channel showing him taking the #01 position in Kills and #01 in Leaderboards in Modern Warfare 3.
LCD's and Other Electronic Items Recovered:
Among the seized items three 82-inch Samsung 820DXN LCD TVs, two 108-inch Sharp LCD TVs, two Sony PMW-F3K cameras, two 65-inch Sharp LC-65XS1M LCD TVs, a 56-inch TVLogic LUM56W computer screen and 60 Dell 710 computer servers were taken from the house.
Announcing $10m Bounty On Bin Laden's Arrest:
Schmitz liked branding himself through publicity stunts such as offering up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Osama bin Laden in the wake of terror attacks against the United States.
Private Jet And Vacations:
He also owned a private jet and was known to spend vacations on remote islands around the world, he was often spotted with glamour models on such trips.
$115,000 A Day Earnings:
The FBI estimates that he was making around $115,000 per day personally from Megaupload and other sites. After his arrest the FBI has suspended 64 bank accounts and dozen pay pal accounts with funds of around $175m.
Celebrity Endorsed Megaupload Song:
Kim even funded a celebrity endorsed Megaupload song featuring world renowned celebrities such that included Will.i.am, P Diddy, Kanye West, Chris Brown, Jamie Foxx, Kim Kardashian, Lil John, The Game, Floyd Mayweather, Serena Williams and Ciara. The song has 12m hits on youtube as of now.
Now lets see what the FBI and the Courts have planned for the megaupload founder or will the conman cum computer geek somehow again survive against the odds and get out of jail.
