Where to begin with this story? It’s long and undulating, but I’ll try to make it as clear as possible and cut right to the chase.

We have long been fans of Kim Dotcom (real, legal name) – an outspoken opposer of copyright law and founder of MegaUpload who drew the ire of the government and private entities for hosting materials that infringed on said copyright law. A quick timeline:

In 2012, the Justice Department filed charges against Dotcom including racketeering, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, and conspiring to commit money laundering.

Dotcom’s sizable assets were frozen by the Department of Justice under asset seizure/forfeiture (which is one of the most evil, underhanded and unconstitutional tactics the government employs). Essentially, because the government alleges (alleges mind you – nothing has been proved) that Dotcom’s assets were involved in a criminal venture, they can take them away. Poof! Gone.

The government of New Zealand, where Dotcom was residing when the charges were filed in the U.S., arrested and jailed him after a ridiculous assault on his compound. This was so extradition could be figured out and to keep him from fleeing the country. That extradition never occured, despite Dotcom agreeing to return to the US if they would release his funds and actually let him mount a defense and hire a lawyer. The Justice Dept. refused that logical request by a man trying to defend himself.

Dotcom was able to retain lawyers to fight the seizure of the funds, however…

In November the government argued that Kim shouldn’t be able to fight the seizures because he was a “fugitive” and fugitives who don’t willingly surrender shouldn’t be allowed to use the resources of the court. This is INSANE.

As of February 22nd, a NZ judge released Dotcom, as he was no longer considered a threat to flee in his opinion.

Why was he no longer a threat to flee? Well, Dotcom no longer has any chance of seeing his assets ever again.

Techdirt has a bit more on this story:

In a ruling [pdf] that was just posted a little while ago (ed note – Feb 27th), O’Grady sided with the government, and gave the DOJ all of Dotcom’s things. You can read the full reasoning here and it seems to take on some troubling logic. Judge O’Grady notes that the statute does allow him to call anyone who “declines to enter” the United States a fugitive, and argues that Dotcom fits that description. Furthermore, he actually argues that Dotcom’s offer to the DOJ to come willingly to the US if the money is freed for his defense actually works against Dotcom, and gives weight to the fugitive claim: As demonstrated, Dotcom need not have previously visited the United States in order to meet the prerequisites of § 2466. The statute is satisfied where the government shows that the claimant is on notice of the criminal charges against him and refuses to “enter or reenter” the country with the intent to avoid criminal prosecution. Because the court assesses intent under the totality of the circumstances, it is certainly relevant that Dotcom has never been to the United States and that he has lived in New Zealand since 2011, where he resides with his family. This tends to show that he has other reasons for remaining in New Zealand besides avoiding criminal prosecution. However, the existence of other motivations does not preclude a finding that he also has a specific intent to avoid criminal prosecution. Dotcom’s statements, made publicly and conveyed by his attorneys to the government, indicate that he is only willing to face prosecution in this country on his own terms. See Technodyne, 753 F.3d at 386 (2d Cir. 2014) (“The district court was easily entitled to view those [requests for bail], evincing the [claimants’] desire to face prosecution only on their own terms, as a hallmark indicator that at least one reason the [claimants] declined to return in the absence of an opportunity for bail was to avoid prosecution”). Dotcom has indicated through his statements that he wishes to defend against the government’s criminal charges and litigate his rights in the forfeiture action. If it is truly his intent to do so, then he may submit to the jurisdiction of the United States.In short, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. This is the justice system, ladies and gentlemen. The DOJ gets to seize and keep all your money, and merely asking for access to it to fight to show your innocence is used as a reason to allow the DOJ to keep it. So he comes to the US and has to fight criminal charges without his own money, or he stays in New Zealand and the government uses it as an excuse to keep all the money. How is any of this even remotely fair? Where is the “due process” in totally handicapping Dotcom from presenting a defense? Again, it is entirely possible that Dotcom and the others broke the law — though the case certainly does look pretty weak to me. But what’s really astounding is how far the DOJ appears to want to go to make it absolutely impossible for Dotcom to present a full defense of his case.

Perfectly said – now who out there still thinks the justice system as it exists today is actually designed to protect our rights and liberties?

Liberty Links!

– The Intercept points out that the Patraeus deal reveals a bias two-tier justice system for leaks – I doubt the rest of us would get off so easy.

– It’s good that robots will take your job, claims Reason Mag

– WA gun group plans armed protest in response to open carry activist arrest

– Zero Hedge: Financial collapse leads to war

– Hillary Clinton only used her personal email address during her time as Secretary of State. That’s not suspicious at all, right?

– Homeland Security Bill Passes (sad trombone sound)

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