Four of the Megaupload team who were arrested on piracy charges Thursday in New Zealand had a brief court hearing on Friday. NZHerald.co.nz reports that Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom (previously Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor) along with Bram van der Kolk, Finn Batato and Mathias Ortman, appeared at the North Shore District Court in Auckland.
The suspects" lawyers asked the judge for bail for their clients, which was opposed by the US lawyers who are seeking to extradite the suspects for alleged pirating activities. The judge in the case, Judge David McNaughton, ruled on Friday that the suspect be held in jail until Monday when they will get a bail application.
The three other men that were charged in the case, Julius Bencko, Sven Echternach and Andrus Nomm, remain at large as of this writing.
Meanwhile, more information has been revealed about the raid itself, which involved 76 local New Zealand law enforcement officials along with four FBI agents. The raids hit 10 addresses in New Zealand, including Dotcom"s massive mansion in Coatsville. The raid also seized a large car collection at the mansion worth a total of over NZ$6 million. One of the cars was a NZ$500,000 Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe.
Over NZ$10 million in assets were also seized from various financial institutions in the raid. The police believe there could be even more money from Megaupload to be found in other financial institutions.