Facebook says evidence shows man's lawsuit is fraud
Posted On Apr 8, 2012 at , 4:12 PM by SyahrizalNEW YORK: Facebook Inc urged a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit by a New York wood pellet salesman who said he deserves half of founder Mark Zuckerberg's stake in the social media company, calling the case a "fraud."
Paul Ceglia, who has lived in Wellsville, New York, sued Zuckerberg and Facebook - now one of the world's most valuable companies - in 2010 in a dispute over a 2003 contract.
Facebook has repeatedly said Ceglia was a fraud and that a "Work for Hire Document" was a forgery and e-mail messages he purportedly exchanged with Zuckerberg were made up. Last year, the presiding judge in US District Court in Buffalo, New York, gave Facebook more time to gather evidence.
"The evidence is in. And it is devastating for Ceglia and his cohorts," Facebook's lawyers wrote in a motion to dismiss filed on Monday.
"Ceglia and his co-conspirators have compounded their wrongdoing by destroying and tampering with evidence, obstructing discovery, and defying court orders."
They said they had found e-mail messages, dating back to Zuckerberg's days at Harvard University, to prove Ceglia's fraud.
They asked the judge to halt Ceglia's lawsuit, which they said was filed "in hopes of extorting a settlement through their fraudulent scheme."
A lawyer for Ceglia could not immediately be reached to comment.
Ceglia said he hired Zuckerberg when he was a Harvard University freshman for multiple projects, one of which eventually became Facebook.
Founded by Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room and now based in Menlo Park, California, Facebook is the world's No 1 online social network with more than 845 million users.
In February, Facebook filed with securities regulators to raise US$5bil (RM15bil) in an initial public offering. Zuckerberg controls 28.4% of Facebook's Class B shares, a filing shows.
Facebook may be worth US$93.6bil (RM281bil), according to SharesPost Inc, which tracks valuations of private companies. - Reuters
Posts
