Megaupload administrations face new charges

It seems that the administration of the file-sharing service Megaupload are going to arrange a model trial. Yes, of course, these guys made a profit from their activities, and the profit is very decent. But the trial is also very, very loud. So, the other day, representatives of the Megaupload administration were charged with new charges related not only to copyright infringement, but also to tax evasion and other crimes. And for this, as you know, in Western countries they punish very severely.

So, now the US authorities are going to demand the transfer of the founders of Megaupload from New Zealand to America. Perhaps they will not demand the extradition of the entire administration, but only of Kim Dotcom, the main accused in this matter. Representatives of the law also charge him with tax evasion, as mentioned above, and fraud, and the creation of a legal entity on illegal grounds, and, of course, the illegal distribution of copyrighted products.

It has already been estimated that as a result of its work since 2005, the service brought its creators about 175 million dollars. Representatives of the law believe that a large part of this considerable amount is earned through the illegal distribution of copyrighted films, music, programs and other content. As they deepened into this matter, the authorities found that the founders of Megaupload created a whole network of offshore companies through which they brought all the profits.

Representatives of the prosecution have already calculated that the service as of January 2012 had 66.6 million registered users, of which only 10% downloaded something. Everyone else, prosecutors believe, used Megaupload only to download copyrighted material.

Most likely, representatives of the American side will demand the extradition of the Megaupload administration at the end of this month - February 22. If the United States does succeed, and most likely, it will be so, then the trial will indeed be exemplary. If in the case of Pirate Bay you could still do something, proving that the files were not stored on the servers, i.e. there was nothing illegal, then everything is much worse. Well, as you remember, the administration of the "Pirate Bay" was recently condemned in full force, dismissing the appeal. Probably, the judicial sentence of the head of the Megaupload administration will be even stricter.

Via reuters