Feds say US ties make Megaupload subject to criminal law
The United States government has told a Virginia judge that a long list of American connections makes Megaupload subject to US criminal law. The Friday court filing was a response to the company's argument that its lack of a US mailing address makes it immune to criminal prosecution in the United States.
Megaupload points to federal law requiring that notice of a corporate indictment be served on an officer of the corporation and sent to the corporation's last known US address. It has argued that since it doesn't have a US address, it cannot be indicted.
But Megaupload shouldn't be allowed to escape US jurisdiction on a technicality, the feds said in a Friday court filing. And while the locker site has never maintained an office in the US, it has extensive American connections. Most obviously, the firm has hundreds of servers in the United States. It makes use of American financial services companies such as PayPal. It has numerous American customers.
