Facts about Kim Dotcom - Self made Millionare

1. Kim Dotcom has been called one of the world's "largest tech entrepreneurs".
2. Dotcom was born as Kim Schmitz in Kiel, West Germany. He changed his surname to Dotcom in 2005. 
3. His mother was Finnish and so he holds a Finnish passport. His father was German. As well having an immigrant background he also had a troubled upbringing. He has siblings in Finland. 
4. As a teenager, Schmitz acquired a reputation in his native Germany after having claimed to have bypassed the security of NASA, the Pentagon and Citibank under the name of Kimble – based on the character of Dr Richard Kimble in the long-running television programme The Fugitive. He also claimed to have hacked corporate PBX systems in the United States and said he was selling the access codes at $200 each, bragging that "every PBX is an open door to me". 
5. In 1994, he was arrested by German police for trafficking in stolen phone calling card numbers. He was held in custody for a month, released and arrested again on additional hacking charges shortly afterwards.
6. In 2001, Schmitz bought €375,000 worth of shares of the nearly bankrupt company Letsbuyit.com (de) and subsequently announced his intention to invest €50 million in the company. The announcement caused the share value of Letsbuyit.com to jump and Schmitz cashed out, making a profit of €1.5 million. One commentator suggested that Schmitz may have been ignorant of the legal ramifications of what he had done, since insider trading was not made a crime in Germany until 1995, and until 2002 prosecutors also had to prove the accused had criminal intent.
7. Schmitz( Now Dotcom) moved to Thailand to avoid investigation where he was subsequently arrested on behalf of German authorities.
8. Schmitz moved to Thailand to avoid investigation where he was subsequently arrested on behalf of German authorities. In response, he allegedly pretended to kill himself online, posting a message on his website that from now on he wished to be known as "His Royal Highness King Kimble the First, Ruler of the Kimpire". He was deported back to Germany where he pleaded guilty to embezzlement in November 2003 and, after five months in jail awaiting trial, again received a suspended sentence (of 20 months). After avoiding a prison sentence for a second time, he left Germany and moved to Hong Kong in late 2003.
9. Schmitz found Hong Kong to his liking and registered Kimpire Limited in December 2003, soon after moving there. He set up a network of interlinked companies, including Trendax which claimed to be an artificial intelligence-driven hedge fund delivering an annual return of at least 25%. However, Trendax was never registered with Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission and the company was legally not allowed to accept investments or to conduct trades. Dotcom was subsequently convicted for failing to disclose his shareholding to the Securities and Futures Commission, and was fined HK$8,000.
10. While living in Hong Kong, Dotcom visited New Zealand for 10 days in December 2008 and again for two months from August 2009. On his 2009 visit, he bought 12 cars, valued at $3.2 million, and leased a helicopter on a stand-by basis.He applied for residency and received it in November 2010. Immigration New Zealand made its decision on his application (despite his foreign convictions and despite his persona non grata status in Thailand) after officials used a special direction to waive "good character" requirements. Warwick Tuck, head of Immigration New Zealand, said that New Zealand granted Dotcom residency under the "investor plus" category, which allows people to gain residency if they invest $10 million in New Zealand. It was anticipated that Dotcom would contribute to New Zealand through investment, consumption and philanthropic activities – he has given $50,000 to the mayoral fund following the Christchurch earthquake, another $50,000 to a rugby player who was left in a wheelchair after an on-field injury and funded a $600,000 fireworks display in Auckland harbour.
11. On 28 April 2012 Dotcom revealed he also donated $50,000 to John Banks' mayoralty campaign in 2010, and that Banks asked him to split the donation in two, allowing the Banks campaign to claim them as anonymous. In 2014, Banks was found guilty of filing a false electoral return, with evidence from Dotcom playing a major part in the case. Among Dotcom's revelations was a phone call from Banks, thanking him for the contribution. Dotcom subsequently recorded a song titled "Amnesia", which mocks John Banks' inability to remember the $50,000 donation.

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