Kim Dotcom, the owner of filesharing service Megaupload, has declared himself "broke" following a 3 year extradition battle with the US government.
The internet businessman claims to have spent £6.4m on legal costs since he was arrested in connection with piracy, and will have to defend himself in court after his lawyers resigned over his inability to pay.
"[The US government] have certainly managed to drain my resources and dehydrate me, and without lawyers I am defenceless," he said, speaking via video link to a press conference in London.
"They used that opportunity to try and get my bail revoked and that’s what I’m facing, so this might be the last public appearance."
On his arrest Dotcom’s assets were frozen, including numerous bank accounts. He recently won the right to have around £470,000 worth unfrozen just seven months ago, including several of his cars.
The businessman maintains that Megaupload is a legitimate tool used for illegitimate purposes by some, claiming that he has a 100% record on removing copyrighted material, and had even granted the film industry the means to do it themselves.
"We are a dual-use technology," he said. "Yes people can use Megaupload to upload a movie and share it, but we’ve always taken it down."
