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knowing it was unlawful at the time.

How did that happen, asked Dotcom? “They knew when they came in here that they don't have a legal basis. Internally, they agreed they don't have a legal restraining order and they went ahead and did it anyway,” he said. Crown Law later made it clear in court documents they believed the unlawful restraining order was a technical issue and one which could be later corrected. In Dotcom's opinion, there is a blunt way to state what occurred: “They broke the law on purpose knowing about it. That's how far Crown Law went in this case.”

The consequence of it was that Dotcom was left without money for a fighting fund. He believes the raid and the way it was done were about putting on a show of force for the FBI while [choking the opportunity to fight back]. “They even blocked assets and accounts of people who aren't even defendants.” Tempero, for example, had Hong Kong-based accounts holding his wages seized on the basis the cash came from Megaupload's accounts.

The revelation that the restraining order was unlawful, followed by the ruling that the search warrant was unlawful, created in Dotcom a deep suspicion which would not be shifted. “It is a pattern. It is not an accident. (It is) all planned, wilful, criminal behaviour. The real criminals here are the people who are attacking us. From Hollywood to the White House to the prosecutors to law enforcement to the cooperation in New Zealand and the people involved here. Those are the people that are doing illegal things.”

In Dotcom's opinion, the constant bungles were too convenient for the Crown and the FBI. “They weren't just errors. If you look at all these events where they say, 'We made a mistake here and this was an error,' — that just doesn't happen. Show me one case in the history of this country where you have such a high error rate.”

Dotcom sat in the back of the courtroom and felt satisfaction wash over him. It felt like “karma”, he says. There was no overt glee as details of the twisted shambles emerged, but a quiet satisfaction that some of the secret game was being exposed.

“What they are doing to me is wrong,” he says. “I am innocent. I've done nothing wrong. So I feel it is the universe almost correcting things and punishing those who did this to us.”

The details which emerged were more than was expected — and more than would have been surrendered willingly, he says. Were it not for the legal team — still at that time working on a promise of payment from a man who had nothing — the breaches and short cuts which led to unlawful behaviour would have gone unnoticed. Is it naive, Dotcom asked, to believe there were forces which would find a way for the truth to come out? “The fact we are in this position is a blessing and I almost feel there is some higher power just punishing those who did this to us.”

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