Video and music download website Megaupload has a just been shut down by the feds.
The federal indictment accuses Megaupload—of over $500 million in lost media revenue from hosting pirated media. It was revealed this week that Swizz Beats could be the CEO of Megaupload. He wasn’t named in the indictment and Rich Spears, an agent for Swizz Beatz, said he wasn’t sure whether the musician is a MegaUpload executive and declined to comment further.
The indictment says that at one point, Megaupload was the 13th most popular Web site in the world. No word on Swizz’ situation but Kim “Dotcom” Schlitz, who founded Megaupload, is currently being incarcerated, awaiting prosecution. Seven people have been charged with online piracy crimes in an indictment unsealed in northern Virginia. Megaupload has released the following statement: “The fact is that the vast majority of Mega’s Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch.”
But the indictment calls the company “a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale.” Investigators estimate that MegaUpload’s piracy business has earned them more than $175 million, according to the indictment.
