More charges for Megaupload four

Kim Dotcom. Photo / Greg Bowker

More charges have been filed against those involved in the international Megaupload case, including reproducing copyright material directly from third-party websites.

It's the latest in a series of events which have brought Megaupload and Kim Dotcom to the forefront of New Zealand and international news.

New Zealand police raided Kim Dotcom's $30 million rented mansion at Coatesville at dawn on January 20, at the request of US authorities.

Dotcom and three associates were arrested in the raid and have all since appeared in court in Auckland.

All four of the arrested men were accused of internet piracy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking to extradite them to the United States to face charges of conspiring to commit racketeering, conspiring to commit money laundering, copyright infringement, and aiding and abetting copyright infringement over the internet through the website Megaupload.

And in US court documents filed on February 16 (US time) a superseding indictment has been returned in the Eastern District of Virginia against the defendants in the Megaupload case.

The superseding indictment adds additional charges of criminal copyright infringement and wire fraud.

Among the added charges the defendants are alleged to have reproduced copyright works directly from third-party websites, including from YouTube.com, to then make them available for reproduction and distribution on Megavideo.com.

They are now also accused of creating a false impression that Megavideo.com hosted primarily user-generated content instead of copyright-infringing content.

Three of the four men arrested by police on January 20 have now been granted bail.

Mathias Ortmann, Bran van der Kolk and Finn Batato have been granted bail, leaving only Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz, behind bars.