A 191-page document has been shown in the case of the United States vs Kim Dotcom, and within are details of the operations of Megaupload, and the flaunted wealth of Dotcom himself. While Dotcom is in the middle of separate legal action against New Zealand for potentially extralegal spying, the US will use Skype chats, financial data, and email content in their own court case.
Over at Ars Technica is an analysis of the materials, which reveal how the organisation was making money, including practices such as paying high-volume uploaders to continue bringing traffic to the site, and sharing copyrighted media with as many people as possible. There are numerous quotes which refer to putting on a facade of innocence while keeping true dealings private.
If copyright holders would really know how big our business is they would surely try to do something against it… they have no idea that we’re making millions in profit every month
Some of the aforementioned heavy uploaders will be providing evidence against Dotcom in the coming process. Whether extradition to the US will happen remains to be seen in the next trial in July 2014. But in the meantime, Dotcom is still busy with new site Mega, and in the wake of secure email services Lavabit and Silent Circle shutting down, has begun work on a new encrypted email service. Dotcom has been a proponent of encryption for a long time, and with his own communications now being used against him (legal or not), one can see why.