'PENNILESS': Kim Dotcom, pictured during a pool party at his mansion in Coatesville, Auckland, says he can't move somewhere cheaper because no landlord would have him

Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom's estranged wife had to borrow money from friends and sell items from their Coatesville mansion after their assets were frozen.

The High Court in Auckland has also heard that Mona Dotcom was initially hesitant to donate money to the Internet Mana political party, at her husband's suggestion, but eventually agreed the family trust would give $400,000.



A "broke and destitute" Kim Dotcom appeared in front of Justice Patricia Courtney today in a legal bid to recover some of his frozen assets to pay mounting legal fees, said to be about $4 million.



The internet entrepreneur's assets, valued about NZ$11.8m, were restrained when attempts began in January 2012 to extradite him to the US to face criminal charges for breach of copyright.



The family was allowed an allowance of $20,000 a month but given the legal fees, the costs of running the family mansion and feeding five children Dotcom said he had been left "broke," "destitute" and "penniless".



This afternoon Mona Dotcom withdrew her opposition to Dotcom's application and the court heard she had been forced to borrow money from friends and associates and had sold items from their Coatesville mansion in order to feed herself, the mansion's staff, and her and Dotcom's five children.



She wept softly during the proceedings this afternoon when details of the family's dire financial situation were heard.



Mona Dotcom was initially the sole trustee of the family trust, containing the family's millions, but said she never objected to paying for anything Kim Dotcom required, including his musical endeavour, a dance CD called Good Times, and his political aspirations.



She believed Dotcom's claims that his involvement with the Internet Mana party would eventually relieve the family of his threat of extradition, she said.



"At the end I was fine with it because Kim explained to me how this Internet Party would benefit us and the kids because it would help him with his political issues," she said.



She agreed when Dotcom's lawyer Ron Mansfield put to her that their family was essentially left destitute after their assets were frozen.



In his summing up this afternoon Mansfield asked for "reasonable living costs" for Kim Dotcom as well as enough money to settle his legal fees.



"If he's not permitted the release of fees to cover his legal proceedings and living arrangements, including that of his children, he will be forced to prevail on the NZ government in both respects," Mansfield said.



"There is simply no other remedy he has at this point, given the restraint of assets and the restraint of the trust assets. He'll effectively be left destitute (and) it seems the Commissioner of Police condones this position and as such condones the orders."



Earlier Dotcom testified he was subsisting off small amounts of cash but Crown lawyer David Boldt queried Dotcom's claims of being "penniless", by quoting a Tweet from last year where Dotcom promised a financial reward of $5000 for whistle bowers who could help him with his copyright case.



Dotcom, a prolific tweeter, stood by his Tweet "absolutely," saying he thought any information gleaned from a whistleblower could help him claw his money back. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," he said.



Boldt then suggested to Dotcom that Mona could approve withdrawals from the family trust to which Dotcom, apparently amused, pointed out that the pair were engaged in a "separation battle" over their shared assets.



The Dotcom's lavish Coatesville mansion was also referred to, with Boldt asking: "Have you thought about moving into a house that doesn't cost you $1m a year?"



"Which landlord is going to rent to me? I don't have even a bank account," Dotcom replied.



The hearing is expected to finish this afternoon.