Facebook dismisses Ceglia lawsuit as 'scam'
Firewood salesman's lawyers insist teen Zuckerberg gave him 50 per cent
Posted in Law, 14th October 2010 13:29 GMT
Free whitepaper – Enabling Datacenter and Cloud Service Management for Mid-Tier Enterprises
Facebook dismissed a lawsuit filed against the company’s boss Mark Zuckerberg by a man who claims he is entitled to 84 per cent of the social network, by saying the whole thing was a “scam”.
New York firewood salesman and web designer Paul Ceglia threw a sueball at Zuckerberg in June.
Ceglia had initially hired the Facebook CEO to do some computer coding for him in 2003 and paid a then 19-year-old Zuckerberg $1,000 to do the work.
He claimed in the suit that he later inked a contract with Zuckerberg in April 2003 to design a website called “The Face Book” or the “The Page Book” by 1 January 2004.
The deal granted Ceglia a 50 per cent stake in the business. He notched up 1 per cent for every day past the due date, which led to his 84 per cent claim against Zuckerberg.
But Facebook rejected the claims yesterday and told the AFP that the case was “a fraud brought by a convicted felon with a well-documented track record of scamming and defrauding honest people. This case is his latest scam,” it said.
Ceglia's lawyers, who are pushing for the case to be heard in a New York state court, described Facebook's fraud claims as "nonsense", reports the Wall Street Journal. ®
Free whitepaper – Enabling Datacenter and Cloud Service Management for Mid-Tier Enterprises
Linux on the Desktop
The Register Guide to Extended Validation
Register Research on: Application Platforms
Register Research on: Agile development - is it right for you
The Register's Green Computing Debate
