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Inside Kim Dotcom's "golden cage"

60 Minutes tours the strange, luxurious world of Kim Dotcom, who is stuck in New Zealand under threat of extradition from the United States
Inside Kim Dotcom’s “golden cage” 03:47

On 60 Minutes this week, notorious former hacker and Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom gave 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon a look inside what he calls his "golden cage," an extravagant mansion with a black-and-white themed interior and unique flourishes, like floating-hat light fixtures. By all accounts, Dotcom's 60 acres of rolling hills in New Zealand is a lovely spot. The only hitch: he's stuck there.

Kim Dotcom founded the enormously successful file-sharing website Megaupload, which eventually got him in a whole lot of trouble with the U.S. Department of Justice. Before his website was shut down, federal authorities say it allowed users to access copyrighted films, music, books and video games, costing the entertainment industry more than $500 million in lost revenue. The U.S. government filed an indictment against Kim Dotcom for copyright infringement, racketeering, and money laundering. It also requested his extradition from New Zealand. That's where 60 Minutes found him, playing video games and feeding his swans, on a palatial estate.

"You'd have to be Orson Welles to imagine it," Simon told 60 Minutes Overtime. Dotcom's lifestyle sends a message, says Simon: "He is being punished and telling his punishers, 'The game ain't over.'"

To see the full 60 Minutes story on Kim Dotcom, produced by Michael Gavshon and David Levine, click here.

Editor's Note: This segment was originally published Jan. 5, 2014

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