Who did you share your cell with?

In Brooklyn, I shared my cell with a young American IT guy. We could talk for days. We played soccer barefoot just to fill in the time. The worst thing was if you didn’t get tired during the day that meant you couldn’t sleep.

What did you do in the prison in Pennsylvania?

I read a lot, four or five books a week. I scribbled some plans and specifications for my projects, or watched stupid American TV series. I took Spanish and Chinese courses. Not much of either stuck, but at least it took up my time. I also took alternative energy courses; one of the prisoners was the former owner of a huge green energy company. In my last few weeks there I myself gave some computing courses. I talked about how to make a website, what HTML was, and so on.

You had computers there?

No, I taught them on paper. I talked about the hardware: what a hard drive is, and a monitor, and a smartphone; why we need passwords. Some of the men had been in prison for 20 years. There were Jamaicans, Slavic guys, and Spanish-speaking people in the group.

Did the Estonian state support you while you were in prison?

Estonia was the only country that didn’t give its people any support. All the other countries gave their prisoners at least some pocket money. Even 10-20 euros would’ve been a great help, because you don’t even get normal soap for free there, not to mention shampoo. You’re given toothpaste whose "best before" was in 2005 and two 20 x 40 cm towels for your whole body for half a year.

But there’s a shop. If you have money, you can buy everything. Some friends and my family sent me money.

Did you get your own little corner?

I was given a tiny metal box, but it was impossible to lock it. Still, nobody stole from anyone else. Otherwise they would have been blacklisted. The guards don’t have full control of prisons in the US. Each nationality group has its own go-between who, if they need to, sorts out strife. The Hispanics have their own, the black guys have their own, the Chinese have their own, and so on.

Weren’t you afraid?

It was a low-risk prison. Most of the inmates had come across the border or been caught living in the US without a passport. There were some habitual criminals, of course. You just need to know when to keep your mouth shut and walk away. I come from Ida-Viru County. I have some experience with people like that. It wasn’t particularly easy being an Estonian in Ida-Viru County when Estonia regained its independence from the Soviet Union.

I only ever saw two fights in prison. One of them started because somebody switched the channel on the TV. The second one was when somebody made a bad joke about the other guy's girlfriend.

Did you also get to work and earn money?

Everybody had to work at least 20 hours a week: unclogging the toilets, digging pits, painting, or helping sort the books. But guess how much we were paid per hour? Twelve cents per hour! A pack of coffee cost $4. You work for a month and get a pack of coffee! One prisoner told me he’d started fighting in his last prison so he’d be sent away. It was located near a cornfield in Louisiana and the prisoners were working in the field for a dollar a day.

What was the most frustrating aspect of the whole experience?

You’re like a sheep in the US prison system. When you’re being transported from one place to another and it’s cold outside, they make you stand outside in your socks and T-shirt. It’s perfectly normal to be put in solitary for three weeks with nothing to read. It’s your own problem if you go crazy. You don’t have any rights.

What about your health?

I had a few problems. All of them were solved with painkillers.

You were in prison for 10-and-a-half months. Then you applied for parole?

If you don’t do anything wrong, freedom’s granted automatically after you’ve served 85 percent of your time. I was taken to a prison in New York for a few days before my flight home. My release day was 25 November—Thanksgiving. As this was followed by days off, I was held in prison for five days longer. I called the Estonian Embassy and said that in my view this wasn’t right. They didn’t see the problem. Other countries vigorously defended the rights of their own prisoners. It’s weird how the Estonian government kowtows before the USA.

I had two options: either I buy a plane ticket myself or let the US government buy one for me. My family bought me the ticket. One Belarusian guy who was meant to be released on the same day let the officials buy him a ticket. So he sat in prison for another three months.

How are you different today to the person you were a year ago?

Prison didn’t change me. It was like detention in school. But I’m different today from what I was before 2012. I have less trust in all sorts of state affairs, especially big countries. I saw the dark side of the American dream in all its glory. Many people think it’s some paradise. Actually, it’s just one big system. The US, China, Russia—take your pick.

It sounds like you’ve lost faith in American democracy.

Can you call forcing your policies on other countries "democracy?" If you have the money, you have the right. Since the US is a capitalist country, that principle is particularly relevant.

"Kim keeps babbling on about how he helps everybody and is such a great freedom fighter, but the reality is something else. Kim’s always been interested in the well-being of just one person, and that’s Kim himself."

I don’t believe the US will help Estonia in any war. They also promised to help Ukraine, but did they really?

What do you regret most?

I was a bit blind before. It cost me several years of my life. I learned a lot of new things while working in Megaupload. I met some brilliantly clever people. But I should have understood better what kind of person Kim actually was.

Kim has said that he sent you money during the hard times in Rotterdam.

Bramos (Bram van der Kolk, one of the key Dutch players in Megaupload) helped me. His parents transferred some money to me. I don’t know who was actually behind the transfer. Some of the guys were flying around in helicopters in New Zealand while I was languishing in Rotterdam. Kim keeps babbling on about how he helps everybody and is such a great freedom fighter, but the reality is something else. Kim’s always been interested in the well-being of just one person, and that’s Kim himself. As time went by, I realized more clearly that I was fighting on my own.

You’re the only one from Megaupload who’s faced court in the USA, right?

The police used the special unit, helicopters, semi-automatics, and dogs to catch Kim Dotcom during a raid in New Zealand, which turned out to be a total mess. A lot of those things weren’t in accordance with the law. They put on a show of strength to win the favor of the United States. The whole extradition process got stuck in court. As for me, everything in the Netherlands was done exactly as in the papers, which means correctly.

When did you last talk to Kim?

He called me two or three months after all of this began, but we haven’t communicated since.

I know how much money they were wasting in the company, and my salary wasn’t worth doing the job for that last year. Kim offered me a million dollars as an option if he would eventually sell the company. Back then I believed him.

He has said he understands your decision to plead guilty, do the time, and move on?

He’s only saying that to make himself look better. He even tried to go into politics in New Zealand to win the elections and change the law so they couldn’t extradite him.

Does he hold a grudge against you?

Even if he does, he’s not stupid. He understands that social media has a massive influence. Civil war within Megaupload isn’t in his best interests. He’s this martyr, this freedom fighter....

He’ll eventually end up in the US. He’ll most likely throw everyone under the bus. Kim’s only interested in Kim. The show he gives online isn’t Kim.

How did your son cope with all of this?

He’s 13. He knows exactly what happened. He’s not a kid any more.

At least you’re famous now.

Yes, loads of US publications have requested interviews. I've turned them all down. For example, Vice TV kept on me for several months. I'm not interested in the tabloid press. I was afraid that when I got out of prison, I’d really have to work hard to find a job. But it wasn’t a problem. I received all sorts of interesting offers during my last couple of months in prison. I was asked to contact them as soon as I got home. I still don’t understand how everybody knew when I was getting out. There’s enough work, but I avoid sharing any files!

So, your life is now back on track?

There are still a few problems I have to deal with. I need to pay my friends back for the Rotterdam period. I also owe the bank money. They didn’t care that I was in another country for some time and couldn’t pay my bills.

Are the FBI haunting you any more?

I’m a 100 percent clean, and that won’t change. However, they might start questioning me if Kim faces court in the USA.

What do you dream of?

All my dreams were fulfilled by the time I was 25. I grew up in a poor family and left Estonia in 2000. My goal was to find a decent place to live—not some villa, but not a one-bedroom apartment in a dodgy neighborhood either. I wanted a normal car, a family, and an income which could get me anything I wanted. I had all of this before 2006, when I started working for Megaupload. At the moment, I just want to heal all of the wounds from the last four years.