Megaupload Co-Founder Mathias Ortmann Out on Bail; Kim Dotcom Still Jailed
Mathias Ortmann, who was arrested during the January bust of Megaupload, has been released on bail in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is trying to bring him to the States to stand trial for internet piracy charges, TorrentFreak reports.
Ortmann was supposed to get out earlier -- he was actually expected to be temporarily freed after a Jan. 26 hearing -- but cops kept him behind bars when they found that his fortune was larger than expected.
With Ortmann's release, Kim Dotcom is the only member of the MegaUpload team who is still in jail. Ortmann -- along with Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato, who were also captured during the Megaupload raid -- have been called serious flight risks by prosecutors. They are not allowed to use the internet.
It's unclear how the U.S will extradite the accused internet pirates. A lawyer for the U.S. told reporters that the country is trying to use a United Nations treaty that bars organized crime as a means of extradition, though copyright is not mentioned specifically under that measure.
Follow Victoria Bekiempis @vicbekiempis.
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