Fugitive Fraudster Who Demanded Half Of Facebook Arrested After Three Years On The Run

from the tough-to-hide-in-the-age-of-facebook dept

It's been a while since we last wrote about Paul Ceglia. If you don't recall, way back in 2010, Ceglia suddenly claimed that years earlier, he had hired Mark Zuckerberg to do some software development, and bizarrely (and literally unbelievably), that part of the contract for Zuck to work on Ceglia's project... was an agreement to hand over 50% of Facebook, which didn't even exist yet. Making it more ridiculous, Ceglia then claimed some weird interest amounts, and therefore was demanding ownership of 84% of Facebook. The whole thing was nonsensical, and while Zuckerberg admitted he had done some work for Ceglia prior to starting Facebook, nothing about the supposed contract made any sense at all. Beyond the bizarre nature of the contract Ceglia claimed he had with Zuckerberg, it quickly became clear that other evidence Ceglia presented, including purported emails, didn't look real.

A year later, during the discovery process in the lawsuit, the actual original contract was found and it didn't mention Facebook at all, just as most people assumed. Instead, it became clear that Ceglia doctored their contract. Ceglia tried, weakly, to claim that even though the original was found on his computer during discovery, that it was actually Photoshopped and planted by Facebook. As you might imagine, literally no one believed that. It also probably didn't help that he kept some of the details of his plan in an email account called GetZuck.

Finally, in 2012, Ceglia was arrested for fraud. He was set to go to trial in 2015 when he disappeared -- apparently cut off his ankle bracelet and disappeared with his family. Late last week, however, it was reported that he had been found and arrested in Ecuador and was likely to be sent back to the US shortly.

I guess it's hard to just disappear in the age of Facebook. Even if you pretend to own a giant chunk of it.

Filed Under: fugitive, mark zuckerberg, ownership, paul ceglia
Companies: facebook

Now That Paul Ceglia's Been Arrested For Fraud, Court Says It Can Probably Drop His Lawsuit Against Facebook

from the yeah,-probably-a-good-idea dept

This is hardly a surprise (other than the fact it took this long...), but since Paul Ceglia was arrested for fraud back in November after it became pretty clear that he had almost certainly forged the contract he used to claim that Mark Zuckerberg promised him 50% of Facebook, a magistrate judge has now said that Ceglia's original lawsuit against Facebook should probably be dismissed. Talk about a judicial understatement. In the end, this just becomes a bizarre footnote in the history of people trying to get themselves a piece of Facebook they never deserved. Nearly all of those claims were jokes, but this one looks like it was just a pure fabrication. It makes you wonder how Ceglia thought he could ever get away with it, or if he just thought that Facebook would pay him off somehow to go away. Whatever he was thinking, he was wrong.

Filed Under: fraud, lawsuit, mark zuckerberg, paul ceglia
Companies: facebook

Paul Ceglia's Case For 50% Of Facebook Falls Apart Soon After He's Arrested For Fraud

from the yeah,-that's-not-going-to-go-well dept

For a few years now, we've covered the situation with Paul Ceglia, a guy who once hired a young Mark Zuckerberg to do some programming work for him, claiming that Zuckerberg did a deal to provide half of Facebook to Ceglia. The details were a little weird, but Ceglia was able to bring on some high powered lawyers, the types who usually don't take on bogus cases. Of course, then that law firm eventually looked at the details and dropped him. In fact, it seemed like he had trouble keeping lawyers. Facebook grew progressively more aggressive in arguing outright fraud and presented ever increasing evidence that the whole thing was a complete sham.

While the case was clearly flopping, the last week has not been a good one for Ceglia. Late last week he was arrested by the feds for the supposed fraud in the case, and if that wasn't enough to deal with, his case against Facebook & Zuckerberg looks to be (unsurprisingly) closer to falling apart completely after the court has decided that the extremely damning evidence of fraud can be discussed in the case.

Filed Under: fraud, paul ceglia, scams
Companies: facebook

If You're Accused Of Trying To Scam Facebook Out Of 50%+ Of Its Equity, Probably Don't Have An Email Account Named GetZuck

from the and-don't-then-hide-it-from-the-lawyers dept

The case of Paul Ceglia, the guy who claimed that Mark Zuckerberg signed a contract giving him at least half (and maybe up to 84%) of Facebook, keeps getting more ridiculous. As more and more details came out there was considerable evidence supporting Facebook's claim that the whole thing was attempted fraud. Ceglia, whose case got a big boost when legal giant DLA Piper decided to take it on... lost much of that credibility when they quickly dropped him. Since then, he's had difficulty keeping lawyers.

And, now, he's being accused of defying court orders and refusing to hand over the details of an email account he had with the username "GetZuck," which raises just a few credibility questions.

Ceglia's ongoing obstruction--in the face of repeated motions to compel--has prejudiced Defendants by denying them access to time-sensitive electronic material that this Court ordered Ceglia to disclose more than six months ago. Ceglia's attorney Dean Boland appears to have recognized as much. After learning that his client had failed to identify webmail accounts in yet another violation of this Court's Orders, he sent an email to Defendants' attorneys offering to provide signed consent forms for two of the four undisclosed accounts: landlubber39@yahoo.com and paulc@hush.com. He did not, however, mention or offer Ceglia's consent to the inspection of the alleganypellets@gmail.com or getzuck@gmail.com accounts.

The judge in the case has already ordered Ceglia to pay $76,000 in Facebook's legal fees, as well as sanctioned him to the tune of $5,000 for delays in making his emails available. I'm guessing even those who originally thought Ceglia had strong evidence to support his case have probably long since changed their minds...

Filed Under: equity, mark zuckerberg, ownership, paul ceglia, scam
Companies: facebook

Paul Ceglia To Facebook: I Didn't Forge A Contract, You Did!

from the nice-try dept

We just wrote about how, during the discovery process in the lawsuit in which Paul Ceglia claims he only recently discovered a contract giving him more than 50% of Facebook, Facebook found an original contract with identical handwriting on it, that has nothing to do with Facebook, suggesting that Ceglia forged the contract at the center of the dispute. Ceglia has now responded with the not-particularly-believable claim that he didn't forge the contract, but that Facebook forged that "original" document and placed it on his computer. Even better, he suspects that perhaps Mark Zuckerberg himself was the one who placed it there:

Ceglia’s main argument appears to be that the original “authentic contract” Facebook says it found is really just a Photoshopped image the company planted on his computer. He says he and his lawyers reportedly knew about it for some time and willingly handed it over to Facebook. He declares that his team will prove the image in question “has no authenticating properties whatsoever.”

Ceglia speculates it could have been Zuckerberg himself, or the US law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe that may have done the alleged dirty work. He also says Facebook co-founder Eduardo Savrin accused Orrick of “conspiring with Zuckerberg to deprive him of his shares during his case.”

The rest of the article is pretty funny. As we've mentioned in the past, Ceglia has had trouble keeping lawyers, as most of his lawyers have ditched him after becoming more aware of the details of the case. That's generally a huge warning sign that the lawyers don't believe the client. In this article, Ceglia claims that he's looking for a more "collaborative" law firm, and is trying to open source his defense via a wiki (good luck with that). Nothing in the claims that Ceglia makes in this article make him sound any more credible. He's about to lose this lawsuit.

Filed Under: contracts, forgery, mark zuckerberg, ownership, paul ceglia
Companies: facebook

Original Contract Used By Paul Ceglia To Claim Facebook Ownership... Doesn't Mention Facebook

from the falling-apart dept

The latest chapter in the bizarre story of Paul Ceglia claiming a right to more than half of Facebook is that Facebook -- who has previously claimed that Ceglia is nothing but a fraud -- says that in the discovery process it found the original contract, and that contract doesn't even mention Facebook. Facebook pretty clearly is suggesting that Ceglia doctored the contract he did have with Mark Zuckerberg, to work on a Ceglia project called StreetFax, and changed it to supposedly cover Facebook. If you look at the two documents side by side you can see clearly that the original was changed. The fact that both have handwriting and both MZ and PC's initials on it show that this is the same document: Given this evidence, and how this case has gone so far, especially with multiple lawyers dumping Ceglia (including some big names who surprised a lot of people in taking his case originally), it doesn't look like Ceglia has much of a chance here. I'm still a bit mystified that Zuckerberg and Facebook didn't come out more vehemently originally. When the story first came out, Facebook's lawyers simply said they were unsure if the contract was legit. You would think that if he'd never signed any such thing, the denials would have been a lot more upfront. Still, in the end, this case looks dead in the water.

Filed Under: equity, mark zuckerberg, ownership, paul ceglia, scam
Companies: facebook

Paul Ceglia's Big Time Law Firm Drops Him In His Case To Claim Ownership Of A Giant Chunk Of Facebook

from the due-diligence? dept

When Paul Ceglia refiled his lawsuit against Facebook, claiming that he's entitled to at least 50% (and perhaps more) of the company due to an agreement Zuckerberg supposedly signed in the very early days, one of the key things that caught the eye of legal watchers was that Ceglia had retained legal giant DLA Piper to represent him in the case. DLA Piper is a huge, respected law firm and law firms like that generally don't take on cases where fraud may be involved -- as Facebook has been alleging with Ceglia. Actually, for many, the fact that DLA Piper agreed to jump on the case after doing some "due diligence" gave the case credibility which it had lacked previously.

Since then, however, Facebook has been even more aggressive in claiming the whole thing is a fraud and presented some pretty compelling evidence suggesting that the emails that Ceglia presented were not, in fact, written by Mark Zuckerberg at all.

And... just like that, DLA Piper is no longer representing Paul Ceglia. No explanation has been given, but for the folks who thought the association brought Ceglia credibility, seeing him abruptly dropped by the law firm (especially so soon after Facebook's response) certainly will have the opposite effect. It reduces the likelihood that Ceglia has a strong case.

Filed Under: equity, mark zuckerberg, ownership, paul ceglia, scam
Companies: dla piper, facebook

If You're Going To Forge An Email By Mark Zuckerberg, Make Sure You Use Proper English

from the not-txt-spk dept

We've already mentioned that Facebook is claiming that the email evidence presented by Paul Ceglia for his claim that he should own a huge chunk of Facebook was a fraud. Time's Techland blog digs a little deeper into the filing and highlights the research of a linguistics expert Facebook hired to compare known emails from Zuckerberg at the time, with the emails Ceglia presented as Zuckerberg's, suggesting that Ceglia's versions do not match Zuckerberg's standard email writing style. Most interesting? The emails Ceglia presented as evidence show a much less formal writing style, whereas Zuckerberg's emails use proper punctuation:

Apostrophes

A) Questionable Zuckerberg writes:

"doesnt," "parents" (parents'), "sites" (site's = contraction for “site is”), and "sites" (site's = possessive)

B) Real Zuckerberg's contractions and possessives are all used correctly. So there's that.

Suspension Points

A) Questionable Zuckerberg writes:

“. . . I've been tweaking the search engine today,” with spaces in between his suspension points.

B) Real Zuckerberg doesn't space out his suspension points. For example: “So let me know…”

Spelling

A) Questionable Zuckerberg writes these words as follows:

“back end” (two words), “internet” (lower case “I”), and “can not” (two words)

B) Real Zuckerberg writes:

“backend” (one word), “Internet” (capital “i”), and “cannot” (one word)

The link has some more examples as well, but this is certainly fascinating. Obviously, this is from Facebook's hired expert, but it does make you realize just how much people have specific language "tics" in how they write, and how difficult it is to fake that, sometimes.

Filed Under: email, linguistics, mark zuckerberg, paul ceglia
Companies: facebook

Facebook, Once Again, Says That Ceglia's Claim To Own 84% Of Facebook Is A Fraud

from the strong-words dept

Back in April, when Paul Ceglia refiled his lawsuit claiming to have a contract which gave him a huge chunk (up to 84%) of Facebook, some people pointed out that the refiled lawsuit sounded a lot more credible. There was additional email evidence and (mainly) the fact that a huge, extremely reputable law firm had taken on Ceglia as a client -- something they likely wouldn't do if they thought the whole thing was faked. However, Facebook is sticking to its claim that the whole thing is an elaborate fraud by "an inveterate scam artist whose misconduct extends across decades and borders." The response claims that the evidence was doctored or fabricated. It seems like this case is going to end up being a lot more interesting to watch than the Winklevii case. Someone alert Aaron Sorkin to the sequel possibilities...

Filed Under: equity, mark zuckerberg, ownership, paul ceglia, scam
Companies: facebook

Guy Who Claims He Owns 84% Of Facebook Refiles Lawsuit

from the and-on-to-the-next-one dept

If you're successful, there's no shortage of people who will demand a cut of your success. With the Winklevoss situation nearing its close (one hopes), Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg can move on to some of the many other claims of people who say they own a piece of Facebook. If you don't recall, beyond the Winklevi, there have also been claims by a guy named Aaron Greenspan that Zuckerberg copied his idea for a Harvard-focused social network. And, perhaps even more bizarre is the claim from a guy named Paul Ceglia that he owns 84% of Facebook.

That guy claims that he had hired Zuckerberg to work on an unrelated project, and as a part of that, Mark asked Ceglia to invest $1,000 in his "Harvard facebook" project, in exchange for 50% of the company, with an additional percentage point added for each day it was delivered late. Ceglia claims that TheFacebook launched 34 days after the targeted date, and thus he deserves 84% of the company. Just as the courts were shoving the Winklevi off, Ceglia has refiled his lawsuit with more details, including alleged emails between himself and Zuckerberg concerning the investment and development of the site. The whole thing sounds more than a bit preposterous, and Facebook has claimed that the whole thing is faked, but the new emails make for interesting reading in light of the claims by the Winklevi that Mark got the idea from them. At the very least, if the emails are accurate, it sounds like Zuckerberg was working on the concept well before they were.

And while the whole thing still sounds unlikely (would Zuckerberg really be naive enough to give up 50% of a company for $1,000?), it would make for one hell of an interesting legal situation if the court determined otherwise. Of course, Facebook would clearly argue that it wouldn't matter due to statute of limitations reasons, but can you imagine how the courts would try to unwind things?

Of course, even if Ceglia won (which he almost certainly won't), don't forget that there's another guy, named Andrew Logan, who claims that he owns anything Ceglia was involved in due to a separate legal dispute, so that 84% really belongs to him.

Filed Under: equity, mark zuckerberg, ownership, paul ceglia
Companies: facebook