By Tim Bradshaw, Digital Media Correspondent
Kim Dotcom, the 37-year-old man behind Megaupload.com, was already a notorious figure in the online file-sharing world before he was forced out of the ?panic room? of his $24m New Zealand mansion and arrested on Thursday, in one of world?s largest criminal copyright cases, writes Tim Bradshaw.
Despite being convicted for computer hacking and later insider trading in Germany in the late 1990s, the man formerly known as Kim Schmitz has always denied any wrongdoing.
But he has never been shy about flaunting his success.
Videos of the millionaire posted on YouTubeshow him racing a Mercedes at 200mph across European highways as part of the Gumball 3000 race, and posing with bikini-clad women beside a large yacht.
In a December interview with TorrentFreak, a popular news site in the file-sharing community, Mr Dotcom lambasted the music industry for its failure to get to grips with the digital revolution. ?You need to understand that some labels are run by arrogant and outdated dinosaurs who have been in business for 1,000 years,? he said. ?These guys think an iPad is a facial treatment, the internet is the devil and wired phones are still hip. They are in denial about the new realities and opportunities. They don?t understand that the rip-off days are over.?
According to the US Department of Justice, however, it is Mr Dotcom and his ?Mega conspiracy? that is perpetrating the rip-off, costing content owners more than half a billion dollars by disseminating pirated content through Megaupload and its associated sites, such as Megavideo, a YouTube-style instant streaming site, and Megarotic, which offered ?adult? content.
? The Financial Times Limited 2012