Kim Dotcom
Kim Schmitz aka Kimble (* January 21 1974 in Kiel) is an obese German self proclaimed hacker and unethical businessman.
In the late 90s Schmitz has gained publicity through his several high profile break-in claims. He was part of the German BBS scene and had his own Bulletin board system called "House of Coolness". On March 23rd 1998 Schmitz was sentenced to two years on probation for computer crimes like dealing with stolen calling cards and credit card fraud.
Schmitz informed Letsbuyit.com, who at the time was was having financial difficulty, that he was going to inject million of dollars into the business. He then bought a few million dollars of shares in the business. When news of this hit the stock exchange, share prices in Letsbuyit went through the roof. Schmitz then sold his shares for a large profit and walked away from the company. The share prices of Letsbuyit crashed to an all time low. Schmitz was fined approximately $250,000 for undue influence of a trading stock.
Schmitz is not allowed into the United States for hacking numerous Federal Agencies and has spent 6 months in prison for defrauding investors.
In 1998 Schmitz founded a computer security company Data Protect. He sold the company in 2000 to "TÜV Rheinland". In 2001 Data Protect went bankrupt. Today Schmitz is on probation for attendance in insider trading. During the new economy times Kim Schmitz became famous for his decadent lifestyle and expensive events.
Schmitz got attention for several PR stunts. In 1999 Kim Schmitz was driving around on the Munich airport for hours taking photos of himself in the cockpits of parked airplanes. In 2001 he offered a reward of USD 10 million for capture of Osama Bin Laden. His newly founded hacker group YIHAT (Young intelligent hackers against terrorism) didn't succeed in any of their anti-terrorism goals.
Since 2001, Schmitz has had media coverage as a founder of a Hong Kong based investing company called Trendax. The company claimed to use AI for best investment options' selection, but the company never went public or proved this claims.
In January 2002 he announced his own suicide on his personal homepage. In fact his announcement was just part of a marketing campaign for his new project "Kimpire". The Kimpire website is a central point with links to all of his projects and companies.
Kimble is popular in the streetracing scene. He took part at the Gumball 3000 rally several times and won it in 2001 and 2004. Now he is organising his own "Ultimate Rally", which is planned for August 2006.