What on earth is Kim Dotcom doing? He was arguing with his gardener

A gardener has made serious accusations against Kim Dotcom, accusing him of late payments and unreasonable working conditions. He was allegedly denied access to the toilet.

Anna-Lena Jansen/t-online

German internet millionaire Kim Dotcom is making headlines in New Zealand. A former gardener at a luxury Glenorchy estate in Queenstown has made serious allegations.

According to one report, Dotcom owes Mike Hawthorne more than NZ$35,000 (equivalent to approximately €25,000). Gardeners also spoke of undignified working conditions, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Kim Dotcom 2013 photo.Image: X00425

Particularly explosive: the gardener was denied access to the property's toilets. “I had to use the store's primitive restrooms because I wasn't allowed in the main building,” said Hawthorne, who said he suffers from ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease. In order to “follow nature's call” he had to dig an outhouse in the garden. Dotcom is also prohibited from making noise during sleeping hours, making work on the property more difficult.

Dotcom denies accusations

Dotcom denied the allegations to the newspaper. His team has “excellent relationships with dozens of contractors.” “I certainly don't want my lawn mowing while I'm sleeping,” Dotcomb said. Regarding the toilet allegation, he said: “I was told I could use the toilet.”

The charges primarily relate to invoices that allegedly went unpaid. According to Hawthorne, Dotcom owed him tens of thousands of dollars for yard work. He left his previous employer to start a business and signed with Dotcom for $75 plus VAT, an agreement he made verbally with the entrepreneur. “When I [Dotcoms Hausverwaltung] Requested invoice and was denied [diese]”Pay her and insist we agreed to $50 an hour, which is not true,” Hawthorne told the newspaper.

Dotcom disputes that assertion and says there was a misunderstanding about the hourly rate. “I am not owed anything as I am not a party to the contract. I am aware that there is a dispute over his hourly rate. He was paid $50 an hour. After his contracted job was terminated due to poor performance, he claimed an hourly rate of $85 and threatened to report him to the media,” Dotcom said. The matter is currently under legal review.

The case has also caused a stir among other network contractors. Two other service providers reported communication issues and late payments to the New Zealand Herald.

After the article was published last week, Dotcom responded on social media and asked X's followers to unsubscribe from the New Zealand Herald. He wants to offer X a one-year premium membership if 100 of them send him a cancellation confirmation message.

New Zealand wants Dotcom extradited to US

Kim Dotcom is the founder of shared hosting services “Megaupload” and “Mega”. Sharehosters are platforms where users can instantly upload and download files without registering. These services have been used to illegally share music and movies in the past.

US authorities accuse Dotcom of causing $500 million in losses to movie studios and record labels through “Megaupload” and earning more than $175 million in revenue from the site. They also accuse him of copyright infringement, fraud and money laundering. Dotcom has repeatedly denied all accusations. As a result, he faces decades in prison in the United States.

German-born Dotcom has lived in New Zealand since 2010. He has been fighting extradition to the United States since the FBI ordered a raid on his Oakland home in 2012 and U.S. authorities shut down Megaupload. Extradition may now be involved.

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