WELLINGTON - Kim Dotcom, who is facing criminal charges relating to the defunct file-sharing website Megaupload, will be extradited to the United States from New Zealand, the New Zealand justice minister said on Thursday.

       German-born Dotcom, who has New Zealand residency, has been fighting extradition to the United States since 2012 following a FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion.

       Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed an extradition order for Dotcom, a spokesperson for the Minister of Justice said

       “I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the U.S. to face trial,” Goldsmith said in a statement.

       “As is common practice, I have allowed Mr Dotcom a short period of time to consider and take advice on my decision. I will not, therefore, be commenting further at this stage.”

       In a post on social media website X on Tuesday, Dotcom said "the obedient US colony in the South Pacific just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload", in what appears to be a reference to the extradition order.

       Reuters could not immediately contact Dotcom for a response.

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       U.S. authorities say Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material, which generated more than $175 million in revenue for the website.

       The company's chief marketing officer Finn Batato and chief technical officer and co-founder Mathias Ortmann, both from Germany, along with a third executive Dutch national Bram van der Kolk were arrested with Dotcom in 2012.

       Ortmann and van der Kolk entered plea deals that saw them sentenced in 2023 to jail terms in New Zealand but allowed them to avoid extradition. Batato died in 2022 in New Zealand. REUTERS