<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Kim Dotcom, the co-founder of Megaupload, has today denied charges of internet piracy and money laundering, as two more suspects were arrested in Europe as part of the US offensive on the file-sharing website.  Dotcom, a German international also known as Kim Schmitz, was deemed a flight risk &amp;quot;at the extreme end of the scale&amp;quot; by the court in New Zealand, largely because it is thought he has access to large amounts of money and an alleged history of fleeing criminal charges. The enigmatic internet entrepreneur was arrested in New Zealand last Thursday following the closure of Megaupload by US officials. Police found millions of dollars worth of luxury cars at his mansion, along with a loaded short-barrel shotgun. Megaupload is charged with costing copyright holders more than $500 million (\u00A3320m) in lost revenue from pirated films and other media. Hacking group Anonymous took down a number of major websites last week, including the US Department of Justice and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), in retaliation for the site&amp;#039;s closure.  At a bail hearing today, Dotcom&amp;#039;s lawyers insisted that their client posed no risk and had co-operated fully with police, according to reports.  They said that his passports have been seized and his funds frozen, while his distinctive appearance makes it hard for him to go unnoticed.  &amp;quot;He is not the sort of person who will pass unnoticed through our customs and immigration lines and controls,&amp;quot; defense lawyer Paul Davison said of Dotcom, who is believed to be 6ft 6ins and 285 lbs. However, prosecutor Anne Toohey warned that the money seized from Dotcom was &amp;quot;unlikely to represent all the overseas bank accounts&amp;quot; owned by him. US authorities hope to extradite Dotcom to face charges that his Megaupload site made more than $175m by copying and distribution music, movies and other content without the permission of rights holders.  His lawyers have argued that Megaupload merely offered online storage. &amp;quot;His business did not reproduce or copy material as alleged,&amp;quot; Davison told the court, before likening Megaupload to Google&amp;#039;s YouTube, claiming that it was a place where people &amp;quot;promoted their creativity&amp;quot;. Dotcom, 38, and three other people were arrested in Coatesville, north of Auckland, after New Zealand police raided his mansion at the request of the FBI. Reports claimed that Dotcom had to be cut out of a safe room after barricading himself in. His lawyer claimed that he did so after becoming frightened and panicked at the raid by authorities.  The FBI claims that Dotcom made around $115,000 a day during 2010 from Megaupload. In the raid on his NZ $30m house, police seized 20 luxury cars and various works of art, while reports suggest that his home had a heated swimming pool featuring underwater speakers.  Dotcom will find out tomorrow or Wednesday whether his bail application is successful.  Meanwhile, two other men allegedly involved in Megaupload have been arrested in Europe after US authorities issued a string of international warrants.  FileSonic, which offers online data storage, has responded to the case by suspending its file-sharing services over fears of also being targeted by authorities.  &amp;quot;All sharing functionality of FileSonic is now disabled,&amp;quot; said the firm. &amp;quot;Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally.&amp;quot; The case comes as the future of global anti-piracy action is being debated, including the US government confirming last week that two pieces of controversial legislation would be put on hold until further notice. Online encyclopedia Wikipedia staged a 24-hour blackout last Wednesday to protest against the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The movies and music industries want the US to crack down on online piracy, but companies such as Google and Facebook have warned that the SOPA and PIPA would lead to a new form of internet censorship.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a361554/megauploads-kim-dotcom-denies-piracy-money-laundering/>