Kim Dotcom has lost his appeal against extradition from New Zealand to the United States.
The internet entrepreneur has been accused of criminal charges related to the file-sharing website Megaupload, which is now defunct. The website was used for sharing pirated content, which Dotcom and his business partners allegedly encouraged and profited from.
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Mr Dotcom, 44, and three other men, now faces possible extradition to the US, which alleges he ran a criminal organisation that led to an estimated loss of more than US$500 million to copyright holders.
Dotcom, Matthias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato appealed to the Court of Appeal after losing their case against extradition to the US in the North Shore District Court. But the Court of Appeal rejected their case on Thursday.
Dotcom tweeted on Wednesday saying he hoped the decision would "be a declaration of Independence by the New Zealand judiciary".
His appeal was rejected by the court because it said the US government had sufficient evidence to warrant Dotcom and the other men's extradition.
Dotcom's American attorney Ira Rothken said he was disappointed by the court's judgement.
"We have now been to three courts each with a different legal analysis - one of which thought that there was no copyright infringement at all. We will seek review with the NZ Supreme Court," he said on Twitter.
Mr Dotcom had his former home in Coatesville, Auckland raided by New Zealand police and the FBI six-and-a-half years ago. The raid led to 13 charges against Dotcom and the three men, including conspiring to commit copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering.
Newshub.
