Kim DotCom, founder of cyberlocker MegaUpload, has been released on bail following the emergence of new evidence, according to media reports in New Zealand.
After DotCom was indicted in the United States for criminal copyright violations and racketeering, he was arrested last month at the mansion he leases near Auckland, New Zealand, following a sensational police raid. Millions in cash, cars, and other possessions belonging to DotCom were seized.
Since then, two judges in New Zealand had denied his previous requests for bail. The judge who heard DotCom's request today, however, decided the defendant was not enough of a flight risk to keep in custody.
The judge said authorities had not proven that the 38-year-old had enough assets remaining to help him flee the country.
The U.S. government is seeking to bring DotCom and six others associated with MegaUpload to this country to stand trial. Lawyers representing the United States at DotCom's earlier bail hearings said they feared that he would make his way to Germany, his home country and a nation that hasn't any extradition treaties with the United States.
DotCom denied that he wants to be anywhere other than in with his family in New Zealand, where he can fight the charges against him.
DotCom's extradition was initially scheduled to begin today, but U.S. officials have yet to file their paperwork with the court, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia told CNET today.
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