Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom is indeed a fugitive — and his failure to surrender himself to U.S. authorities on charges of racketeering and criminal copyright infringement will cost him an estimated $67 million.

On Friday, in the most significant legal development in the case since the U.S. government decided in 2012 to crack down on Megaupload, then one of the world’s biggest internet sites, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision to allow the feds to seize assets tied to what’s been deemed a “Mega Conspiracy.” The opinion today rejects Dotcom’s jurisdictional challenges to how the court made an order on property outside its reach and rejects the contention that a federal statute disentitling fugitives from defending property claims against government forfeiture actions is a violation of due process rights.

The decision marks a huge victory for the U.S. Justice Department as it eyes assets tied to foreign corruption — and represents a massive blow to Dotcom, who while still in New Zealand fighting extradition in a case now four years old, could find purse strings a big tighter.

Read the post on the Hollywood Reporter