Swizz Beatz, a.k.a Kasseem Dean or Mr. Alicia Keys, was officially listed on Megaupload’s website as its CEO prior to the site’s shutdown, but he hasn’t been implicated in the lawsuit that led to the site’s takedown. In fact, the Atlanta-based rapper’s role in the file-sharing website has come under scrutiny, as its power players seem to be based primarily in New Zealand. The indictment, which was handed down on January 5 and led to the shuttering of Megaupload on January 19, led to seven people being charged and four arrested, including the site’s founder, the oddly-named Kim Dotcom. But why didn’t the feds go after the company’s purported CEO?
Swizz Beatz’s name and title appeared in the now-defunct About Us page, but that’s about the only set-in-ink connection reports show he seems to have to the company. It’s likely that he was listed in recent weeks after the company’s late 2011 redesign, which saw the company partner with major recording artists, presumably for greater exposure. Beatz is not listed in the indictment as holding any share in Megaupload – Dotcom owned 68 percent, and six other non-celebs owned the rest. In fact, Beatz’s name doesn’t come up at all in the 72-page document. And it was far from Beatz’s primary gig: he also has titles as Reebok’s creative director, KidRobot’s brand ambassador and creative designer for Lotus Cars. If he acted as the CEO of Megaupload, it probably wasn’t a time-consuming job.
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/01/20/megauploads-takedown-how-is-swizz-beatz-involved/#ixzz1k6cy51m4
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