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"Megaupload co-founder Kim Dotcom has been denied bail by a New Zealand court, as the internet multi-millionaire awaits possible extradition to the US to face online piracy and racketeering charges.  Auckland judge David McNaughton said that Dotcom, born in Germany as Kim Schmitz, had the money and connections to flee New Zealand if he wished, following various revelations about his extravagant lifestyle.  Dotcom was arrested at his NZ$30m mansion in New Zealand last week following the closure of file-sharing website Megaupload by US officials. The internet tycoon spent his 38th birthday on Saturday in a New Zealand remand centre as he fights charges against Megaupload, which is accused of costing copyright holders more than $500 million (\u00A3320m) in lost revenue from pirated films and other media. According to media reports, Dotcom appeared upbeat as he was ordered to remain in custody until a US extradition application is formally launched on February 22. He is even said to have winked at supporters in the court at one point.  But his lawyer Paul Davison said that his client was disappointed with the verdict and would appeal as soon as possible. Davison revealed to the court that Dotcom, who is 6ft 6ins and weighs 285 lbs, was on medication for diabetes and hypertension. The lawyer had also argued that there was no danger of him fleeing New Zealand, largely because all of his assets had been frozen and his family was staying in Auckland. But the judge agreed with the prosecution that Dotcom was a flight risk &amp;quot;at the extreme end of scale&amp;quot;, as he is thought to have earned around $42m from his internet empire in 2010 alone, and was found to have multiple passports and bank accounts.  Judge McNaughton said that there was no guarantee that Dotcom did not have additional funds hidden away that could be used to flee the country.  He also pointed to reports that Dotcom had to be cut out of a safe room after barricading himself in during the police raid, apparently clutching an unlicensed sawn-off shotgun.  &amp;quot;It suggests a level of criminality which to my mind could easily extend to exploiting criminal connections to obtain false travel documents and leave the country undetected,&amp;quot; said McNaughton. The FBI claims that Dotcom made around $115,000 a day during 2010 from Megaupload. In the raid on his mansion, police seized 20 luxury cars and various works of art, while reports suggest that his home had a heated swimming pool featuring underwater speakers.  US authorities accuse Dotcom and six others arrested last week of generating more than $175 million in criminal proceeds from Megaupload. Judge McNaughton noted that they were at the heart of &amp;quot;the biggest case of its kind ever prosecuted in the United States&amp;#039;&amp;#039;. Dotcom emphatically denies any of the charges against him, and refutes accusations that he was involved in a &amp;quot;mega conspiracy&amp;quot;.  But as prosecutors have discussed pursuing maximum penalties of 20 years against the Megaupload founders on racketeering and money-laundering charges, the judge noted the high risk of Dotcom attempting to flee to Germany, which refuses to extradite German nationals to the US. He noted that one of Dotcom&amp;#039;s co-accused, another German national named Sven Echternach, had already travelled to his homeland from the Philippines after arrest warrants were issued by US authorities. &amp;gt; Megaupload replacement Anonyupload is a &amp;#039;scam&amp;#039;, warns Anonymous "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a362017/megauploads-kim-dotcom-denied-bail-in-new-zealand/>