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Megaupload: More Charges Laid, $50m Assets Seized, Half Billion In Damages Says Govt.

Posted by: , 19:14 AEDT, Mon February 20, 2012
Tags: Copyright

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More charges laid against Megaupload, as government says more than $50 million worth of Mega assets have been seized so far to cover damages to rights holders of more than half a billion

New charges have been levied against file hosting service Megaupload, as the government revealed that $50 million dollars worth of Megaupload assets have been seized so far.

Megaupload was ordered to be shut down by federal prosecutors in late January after allegations were made by the entertainment industry against the website. Seven members of the website were indicted, and five arrested on charges of racketeering and money laundering, as well as criminal copyright infringement, including charges against the website's founder, Kim DotCom.

The new charges claim that Megaupload misled rights holder in regards to the removal of copyrighted content, often only removing one link to the file, when Megaupload was aware that other links existed.

Authorities also revealed that $50 million dollars in Megaupload assets have been seized so far, including DotCom's car collection and personal items. The government estimates the damage to rights holders at more than half a billion dollars, from the 66 million users the site had (including nearly 6 million uploaders).


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