- Kim Dotcom and his wife have vacated their $16m Queenstown mansion, now for sale.
- The property was mortgaged to Roger Ver, who loaned $15m for its purchase.
- Dotcom lost a High Court case requiring him to register the mortgage with Ver.
Kim Dotcom and his wife Elizabeth no longer live at their multimillion-dollar Queenstown mansion and are believed to be renting elsewhere in town.
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The couple’s five-bedroom house at 25 Mount Alfred Ridge, in Glenorchy, has an RV of $16m and boasts stunning views of the mountains and Lake Wakatipu.
It hit the market late last year with New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty, but OneRoof understands that the Dotcoms have vacated the property.
Advertising for the house notes that images have been digitally staged and that some of the exterior images are from earlier shoots.
The luxury property last sold in 2021 for $15.1m and is owned by American Dream, a company controlled by Elizabeth.
The New Zealand Herald reported in November last year that the house was mortgaged to wealthy crypto-evangelist Roger Ver, also known online as “Bitcoin Jesus”.
The five-bedroom home on Mount Alfred Ridge, in Glenorchy, hit the market at the end of last year. Photo / Supplied
The Queenstown house is packed with luxury features, but some of the listing photos include digital staging. Photo / Supplied
The dispute over the mortgage registered to the property was the subject of a high court dispute. Photo / Supplied
Business Desk reported today that the High Court had ordered Kim Dotcom to register the mortgage with Ver. Dotcom had opposed Ver’s claim, saying Ver had reneged on a deal to invest in one of Dotcom’s businesses.
The site said that, according to court documents, Ver had loaned $15m to American Dream to fund the purchase of the Glenorchy property, “under an agreement that included a clause giving Ver the right to register a mortgage as security”.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent David Penrose, who is marketing the property for sale by negotiation, declined to comment on the case when approached by OneRoof. It is unclear who is selling 25 Mount Alfred Ridge or the reason for its sale.
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Penrose’s listing notes that the home is located in a premium position within one of New Zealand’s most exclusive gated estates. “This is a unique opportunity for discerning buyers to acquire a 650sqm architecturally designed home of exceptional scale, and with breathtaking alpine vistas,” the listing said.
“Residents enjoy membership to the Wyuna Preserve Residents Association Incorporated, which provides shared usage of a further 89 hectares, 9km of private walking trails, access to a private lakefront clubhouse with dining facilities, spa and pool amenities, as well as exclusive access to Lake Fyfe for trout fishing. With heli-skiing at your doorstep, adventure awaits year-round.”
It added that the property “may be marketed as suitable for overseas purchasers. However, this does not constitute confirmation of eligibility, approval, or suitability for any individual buyer”.
Dotcom, who has been fighting extradition attempts by the United States for some time, has sought out expensive and palatial properties since arriving in New Zealand in 2009, most notably the $30m rented mansion in Coatesville where he was arrested in 2012 after an airborne assault carried out by elite anti-terrorist officers from the police’s Special Tactics Group.
Kim Dotcom is recovering from a stroke and facing extradition. Photo / Greg Bowker
A photo of Dotcom and Roger Ver in Queenstown, which Dotcom posted on X in 2023. Photo / Supplied
The raid was part of a worldwide FBI operation to take down Dotcom’s Megaupload file-sharing website, which was claimed to be at the centre of a massive criminal copyright operation. The home subsequently sold to the Zuru Toys magnates, siblings Anna, Mat and Nick Mowbray, in 2016 for $32.5m.
The New Zealand Herald reported that Dotcom then lived for a time in a top-floor apartment on Princes Wharf opposite the Hyatt Hotel before moving to Queenstown and into his current $15m lakeside home around 2021.
The Herald reported that Dotcom and Ver’s relationship was not new, as they had appeared on a crypto influencer-style podcast talking about digital currencies five years ago.
Ver was also the major investor in a company launched by Dotcom as a crypto trading platform - that went into liquidation in July 2023, with liquidator reports showing Ver took the mortgage in 2021, but was not visible on the public file until two caveats were placed over the property in 2024.
In November the year before, Ver had posted to his X account a photo of what appeared to be him and Dotcom driving along the Lake Wakatipu coastal road, according to the Herald.
“With the post, he wrote: ‘Thanks for the #BitcoinCash hospitality Kim Dotcom’. Dotcom replied: ‘Roger Roger’.”
The Coatesville mansion, formerly occupied by Dotcom, was bought by the owners of Zuru Toys in 2016 for $32.5m. Photo / Supplied
The four-bedroom Dunedin mansion that Dotcom denied buying. It is now back on the market for sale. Photo / Supplied
The health of Dotcom, who suffered a severe stroke, was raised but dismissed at his latest extradition proceedings, with Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith considering it was not grounds to halt extradition.
OneRoof records show that Dotcom owns a multimillion-dollar lifestyle block in Auckland’s Coatesville, near the “Dotcom Mansion”, with an RV of more than $6m.
The listing of the Queenstown home follows Dotcom’s return there after a stint in Dunedin while he recovered from the stroke.
Earlier this year, Dotcom denied reports he had acquired one of Dunedin’s “most-admired” mansions. Stuff Digital reported that the internet entrepreneur had bought the Mosgiel property, which had been on the market for sale for more than two years.
However, Dotcom told OneRoof via text message in April that he did not own the property. “I have not purchased a property in Bush Road, I just live there for my stroke recovery,” the text said.
The five-bedroom US-style home at 207 Bush Road, in Mosgiel, has since returned to market with an asking price of $3.1m.
- 25 Mount Alfred Ridge, Wyuna, Glenorchy, is for sale by negotiation
