US Govt dismisses Megaupload's entrapment claims

Kim Dotcom's claims of entrapment regarding the closure of his Megaupload site have been dismissed as "baseless" by the US government.

In a new court filing, authorities responded to the accusations of misleading the court as part of a conspiracy to entrap Megaupload.

Centred on the file-sharing sites compliance with a then secret U.S. search warrant, Dotcom claims their cooperation regarding the seizure of 39 pirated videos through the NinjaVideo service was eventually used against them in court.

Dotcom's attorney in the case Ira Rothken said in a January 2 court filing:

“Megaupload had every reason to retain those files in good faith because the government had sought and obtained Megaupload’s cooperation in retrieving those files and warned that alerting users to the existence of the warrant and the government’s interest in the files could compromise the investigation.”

But the authorities have hit back, causing a bitter war of words between both parties.

“Megaupload’s allegations are baseless, as even a cursory review of Megaupload’s pleading and the search warrant materials at issue disproves the allegation that the government misled the court as part of a conspiracy to entrap Megaupload," the government said.

“Yet Megaupload does not cite a single communication between the government and Megaupload or a single instruction from any member of the government to Megaupload; there are none.”

Rothken was quick to reply however, saying the following via email:

“The law requires the ISP in this context engage in evidence preservation, and avoid obstruction of justice by maintaining the status quo until advised otherwise by the government conducting the investigation.

“If the government didn’t like the status quo of preservation they could have written Megaupload a followup letter but they didn’t.”