A Hong Kong photographer who worked for Kim Dotcom, the millionaire accused of major copyright crimes by the FBI, has described the founder of Megaupload as a devoted family man who simply wanted to keep a low profile.
Fashion photographer Olaf Mueller, 31, first met the German-born Dotcom in 2007 after an odd e-mail landed in his inbox.
'He inquired from a weird e-mail so I thought it was spam. Then my assistant said it's some rich guy who wants to have his picture taken with his wife,' Mueller said. 'He's a huge guy. He's definitely not shy, very confident and very sarcastic.'
Dotcom, who changed his name from Kim Schmitz, is currently in custody in New Zealand after he lost his appeal to be released on bail last week. In court, Dotcom said he was not a flight risk and simply wanted to be with his three young children and wife, who is due to give birth to twins in April.
The 38-year-old, who founded file-sharing sites that allowed users to download content, was arrested last month after police raided his home in Auckland.
The FBI have accused Dotcom of being the mastermind behind one of the biggest copyright breaches in US history and are seeking his extradition.
When Mueller took pre-wedding photos in 2007 of Dotcom and his wife Mona, a former model from the Philippines, he had to relinquish all copyright for the pictures.