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Three Germans held in global piracy raid

Three Germans, including a millionaire notorious for his hacking and embezzlement schemes have been arrested in New Zealand on American charges of running a massive global piracy website.

Published: 20 January 2012 11:34 CET
Three Germans held in global piracy raid
Photo: DPA

Kim Schmitz, 37, originally from Kiel, is alleged to be the mastermind behind Megaupload.com, a file-sharing site that US authorities charge has engaged in large-scale copyright infringement and piracy.

The closure of the site sparked a revenge attack on Friday by hackers who temporarily disabled the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation websites.

The Hong Kong-based site has been praised by a raft of American celebrities, including hip-hop star Kanye West. But many have charged it is a cesspool of computer criminals freely trading copyrighted works.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Friday the arrests came after a raid of Schmitz’s estate, north of New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, where officers found guns, a Rolls Royce Phantom, expensive paintings and valuables and cash worth nearly €4 million.

The three Germans and a fourth man from the Netherlands appeared in an Auckland court on Friday, and were denied bail, the New Zealand Herald reported. They are due in court again on Monday the paper said, as the United States launches extradition proceedings in hopes of prosecuting them in the US. Four other suspects are still at large, according to the US Department of Justice.

Justice Department officials said the case was “among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States,” in a written statement.

The defendants are said to have made more than US$175 million (€135.6 million) from Megaupload and a string of related sites, and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to copyright holders, the Department of Justice said.

Megaupload was popular because it facilitated the distribution of television programs, music and movies – often before they were even released. The government charged that the site would selectively comply with takedown requests by copyright holders to maintain a veneer of legality, while illegal content remained on the site.

Kim Schmitz, also known as Kim Dotcom and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, has gained notoriety as a brilliant but twisted cyber-criminal who has been convicted of embezzlement, computer fraud and insider trading.

The New Zealand Herald newspaper reported that the New Zealand property he bought in 2010 was worth the equivalent of tens of millions of euros.

The Local/mdm

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CRIME

Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

A 17-year-old has turned himself in to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker that the country's leaders decried as a threat to democracy.

Published: 5 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden early Sunday morning and said he was “the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician”, police said in a statement.

Matthias Ecke, 41, European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was set upon by four attackers as he put up EU election posters in Dresden on Friday night, according to police.

Ecke was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said.

Scholz on Saturday condemned the attack as a threat to democracy.

“We must never accept such acts of violence,” he said.

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s European election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police said a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been “punched” and “kicked” earlier in the evening on the same Dresden street.

Last week two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and another was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators in her car in the east of the country.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

A group of activists against the far right has called for demonstrations against the attack on Ecke in Dresden and Berlin on Sunday, Der Spiegel magazine said.

According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is planning to call a special conference with Germany’s regional interior ministers next week to address violence against politicians.

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