AUCKLAND, New Zealand, May 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mega Limited has been advised that its technical founders Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk have agreed to face New Zealand charges relating to the operations of Megaupload from 2005 to 2012.

These charges are being prosecuted by NZ Police under the NZ Crimes Act 1961.

The US Government has agreed to withdraw its extradition application for Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk once the charges have been heard.

Stephen Hall, Executive Chairman of Mega Limited, commented that "The charges don't relate to the operations of MEGA or any of the activities our founders have undertaken while working with MEGA over the last ten years.

"The charges relate to the way in which Megaupload, the company our technical founders previously worked for, operated after it started almost two decades ago.

"Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk have long since left Megaupload, and have not spoken to Kim Dotcom in over eight years. They pursued their own path and have been key contributors to the development of MEGA, which has benefited greatly from the technical, industry, marketing and general expertise provided by Ortmann and van der Kolk.

"Mega Limited is a very different company, with strict compliance policies, unambiguous takedown options and statistics  published regularly in its annual transparency report."

About MEGA

MEGA is a leading global platform for end-to-end encrypted communication and file storage. It has more than 250 million registered users in 195 different countries, who have stored more than 120 billion files. Mega Limited employs 80 staff in New Zealand and a further 60 located in many other countries.

MEGA is accessible in multiple languages from desktop (Windows, macOS and Linux) and Android / iOS mobile apps.

User files are held in secure facilities in Europe or in countries (such as New Zealand and Canada) that the European Commission has determined to have an adequate level of protection under Article 45 of the GDPR.

At a time when users' online privacy and the protection of private data is more important than ever, MEGA provides a vital service to protect data and offer online privacy.

For more information see https://mega.io/
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