Kim Dotcom May Get Seized Cars, Cash and Property Back

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On Jan. 20, 2012 tow trucks wait to remove vehicles from Kim Dotcom's house in Coatesville, north west of Auckland, New Zealand.

By Brian Koerber and Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2014-04-16 17:32:56 UTC

It's been a decent week for Kim Dotcom.

After throwing a lavish pool party and picnic for his newly founded political group dubbed The Internet Party, Dotcom learned that his assets, which were seized after the infamous raid on his New Zealand home in 2012, could possibly be returned.

See also: Kim Dotcom Launched a Music Site, EDM Album and Political Party in One Week

The High Court at Auckland declined a request to extend the order restraining Dotcom's assets on Wednesday, which means his property could be returned to him within the next 14 days, although the government can now appeal the decision.

Dotcom, the founder of the defunct file-sharing website Megaupload, had cars, cash and other property seized from his New Zealand home under a restraining order made by the United States District Court in January of 2012 for copyright fraud, The New Zealand Herald reports. Among the property seized was $6 million dollars in luxury cars.

Ever since the raid, Dotcom has been tangled in a long and hard-fought legal battle against both the New Zealand and the U.S governments.

Last year, the New Zealand Appeals Court ruled that the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), the country's spy agency, conducted illegal surveillance on Dotcom for months, granting him the right to sue the agency. Dotcom followed the decision suing the government, asking for a $4.85 million compensation.

This would not be the fist time Dotcom gets some seized stuff back. In May of 2013, the New Zealand High Court ordered the authorities to return all the evidence gathered in the raid, including files, computers, hard drives and documents.

The news of the court decision comes just a week after several Hollywood movie studios filed copyright lawsuits against Dotcom, accusing him of running Megaupload as an "unlawful hub for mass distribution," as Steven Fabrizio, senior executive vice president and global general counsel of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), put it in a statement.

Dotcom appears excited to hear the news about his property, cash and cars however:

Dotcom is still fighting extradition to the United States, where he faces copyright fraud charges.

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Topics: copyright, Kim Dotcom, Mega, new zealand, U.S., US & World, US & World, World