Kim Schmitz ist ein paar Jahre von der Bildfläche verschwunden – offenbar kann er das Protzen aber nicht lassen. Der New Zealand Herald berichtet von den Silvesterplänen:
A jet-setting German businessman with a chequered past of computer hacking and insider trading is laying on a spectacular New Year’s fireworks display for Aucklanders.
Kim Schmitz, who calls himself Kim Dotcom, has contracted master pyrotechnician Martin Van Tiel to set off 2000 large shells of fireworks from two barges in the Waitemata Harbour for 10 minutes from midnight.[…]He told the Herald yesterday his client, whom he called Kim Dotcom, had businesses in New Zealand and Hong Kong. „He just loves fireworks.“
Although he could not say how much the display was costing, another pyrotechnics expert believed it was unlikely to be less than $150,000.
Verlassen sollte man sich aber auf die Angaben des Herald aber keineswegs. Zwar hat der Autor Mathew Dearnaley die Vergangenheit von Schmitz recherchiert, aber er hat sich offenbar von der Schmitz-typischen Gigantomanie anstecken lassen:
In 2001, he bought shares in an ailing web company, pushed up the stock price by announcing he would invest US$100 million ($130 million) in it, and sold out for a large profit.
In Wahrheit versprach Schmitz eine Investition von 50 Millionen Euro – damals also ungefähr 46 Millionen Dollar.
