New Zealand judge confirms Kim Dotcom extradition ruling

A New Zealand judge on Monday upheld an earlier court ruling that Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom and three of his colleagues can be extradited to the U.S. to face criminal charges. The decision arrives five years after U.S. authorities shut down Dotcom's file-sharing website Megaupload and filed charges of conspiracy, racketeering and money laundering against the men.

Dotcom, who is currently living in New Zealand, has been fighting extradition since then in a case which has moved with extreme slowness at times. And this decision won't be the last, since the case is likely to be appealed up to New Zealand's Supreme Court.

U.S. prosecutors say Megaupload raked in at least $175 million, mainly from people using it to illegally download songs, television shows and movies. The New Zealand district court ruled in 2015 that Dotcom and the others were eligible for extradition on the charges.

High Court judge Justice Murray Gilbert found Monday that the district court made mistakes in its ruling but that those didn't alter the big picture.

Dotcom tweeted Monday: "We won but we lost anyway".

The U.S. argues that the site cost copyright holders, which included Hollywood's major movie studios, more than $500 million. Dotcom argues that he can't be held responsible for others who chose to use his site for illegal purposes, and that any case against him should have been heard in civil court.