Kim Dotcom Files Supplemental Brief in Support of Petition to the United States Supreme Court

Kim Dotcom and others filed a supplemental brief today in the United States Supreme Court in support of their Petition for Review of the Fugitive Disentitlement related Judgment.

Here is an excerpt of the supplemental brief below the full brief can be found here.

INTRODUCTION

Pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 15.8, Petitioners respectfully file this Supplemental Brief in support of their Petition for a Writ of Certiorari.

Last week, the Sixth Circuit issued two opinions that compound the circuit splits Petitioners have identified surrounding fugitive disentitlement: Unit- ed States v. $525,695.24, Seized from JPMorgan Chase Bank Inv. Account #xxxxxxxx (“Sbeih”), --- F.3d ----, No. 16-3209, 2017 WL 3612006, at *8 (6th Cir. Aug. 23, 2017); United States v. $525,695.24, Seized From JPMorgan Chase Bank Inv. Account #xxxxxxxx (“Salouha”), --- F.3d ----, No. 16-3542, 2017 WL 3613299, at *7 (6th Cir. Aug. 23, 2017). The two opinions address claims by persons residing in Israel and Gaza to property in the United States. The property at issue is allegedly forfeit because it connects to illegal prescription drug sales and money laundering. Sbeih, 2017 WL 3612006, at *1–*2.

In Sbeih (the lead opinion), the Sixth Circuit has vacated and remanded the Northern District of Ohio’s ruling that Sbeih is a fugitive who has requisite intent to avoid prosecution. Sbeih, 2017 WL 3612006, at *1. While purporting to align itself with the Fourth, Second and Ninth Circuits (contra the D.C. Circuit) on the substantive standard governing fugitive disentitlement (the Third Question Presented), the Sixth Circuit actually adopted a position peculiar to it—vacating application of fugitive disentitlement on facts indistinguishable from those the courts below found sufficient to disentitle these Petitioners and espousing a higher burden the Government should face. As to the procedural standard (the Second Question Presented), the Sixth Circuit took pains to instruct the district court that it must develop a fulsome evidentiary record well beyond that adduced in Petitioners’ case, which was decided based on papers alone. As elaborated below, the Sixth Circuit has thus illustrated the need for this Court to bring clarity and uniformity to the procedural and substantive standards governing fugitive disentitlement.