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Kimpire”. The newly self-appointed royal was detained by Thai police, after German authorities cancelled his passport. Effectively ejected from Thailand, he returned to Germany. He spent six months in jail before being offered a deal — a guilty plea in return for release on a suspended sentence. He took the deal, pleaded guilty to insider trading and was given another suspended sentence. He later rejected claims he did anything wrong, saying he helped save the company and the jobs of 120 people who worked there (Letsbuyit.com went into bankruptcy in 2002). “Their case was a joke. I took the deal and moved on with my life instead of spending the next few years in court rooms defending my innocence,” he later wrote.

The experience was the end of Germany for Dotcom. It was also the end of Kim Schmitz and the creation of Kim Vestor — the persona who would later metamorphose into Kim Dotcom. He moved to Australia, Finland, the Philippines and Hong Kong. He loved racing and kept a house in Monaco for a while, partying with friends at clubs and restaurants with gorgeous models. In 2004, he was back in Paris, competing in the Gumball Rally again. Vanity Fair rode along, covering the event. Kim, it said, was “part buffoon, part Dr. Evil, but a skilled and very fast driver”. He was a “highly competitive venture capitalist, as well as a former computer hacker and white-collar criminal”.

The appeal of the Gumball Rally wasn’t just automotive, according to Dotcom. It was “a great networking opportunity, meeting interesting people that are like minded . . . The Gumball is usually packed with people that think outside the box. I just hate hanging with people that are narrow-minded and don’t think of big ideas, that limit themselves. You got to be a certain kind of guy to participate in that. It’s dangerous, but at the same time it’s super exciting. It gives you adrenaline kicks.” Dotcom says there were “near-death experiences” in both Gumballs — at least a dozen. “I could have died easily.”

The danger was more about the way Dotcom took part in the rally. Others drove — he competed. It was a rally, but Dotcom raced it in 2001, because he wanted to finish first, and he raced it again in 2004, clocking in at 280 kmh at stages and coming first again.

“I decided to get here first and nothing would stop me,” he told Vanity Fair. He compared the Gumball drivers to warriors. “We go out for a battle together, and the battle is being six days on the road and trying to kick ass with all these supercars, which are kind of our weapons. And some know how to shoot really well and some don’t, and at the end of the day everybody who arrives here in Cannes or any checkpoint deserves total respect.” Batato was along for the rally, as was Ortmann, whose love of photography captured many of the images since circulated. It also saw younger coder Bram van der Kolk emerge, on a trip from Belgium, intent on getting in Dotcom’s face.

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