A day after many websites and individuals on the Internet went dark in protest of SOPA / PIPA, federal prosecutors in the United States shut down the file sharing site Megaupload. Among the charges the site’s owners were cited with included copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit racketeering and money laundering.

In a statement issued by the US Justice department, prosecutors claims,  “This action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States.”

Seven people and two companies (Megaupload Limited and Vestor Limited ) were listed on the indictment.  On Thursday, New Zealand police arrested four people at the request of U.S. officials. A federal court in Virginia seized 18 domain names associated with the website, in addition to roughly $50m in assets.

Megaupload boasted endorsements from celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and Alicia Keys, who is married to Megaupload’s  CEO, Swizz Beatz.

You can view the indictment in full at Scribd.com: http://www.scribd.com/doc/78786408/Mega-Indictment

[Via]