'Just a kid' Zuck's word is his bond ... but NOT in his backyard, lawsuit claims

A lawsuit brought against Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg by a would-be neighbour has turned decidedly ugly, after court papers claimed that the billionaire had been described as "just a kid" by his own real estate broker.

In May last year, property developer Mircea Voskerician accused Zuck of reneging on an alleged deal to introduce him to Zuckerberg's circle of rich friends in Silicon Valley.

Voskerician claimed 30-year-old Zuck had backed out of an earlier agreement where the Facebook co-founder had allegedly promised introductions to the property developer.

At the time, it was claimed that Voskerician – who successfully bid for a Hamilton Avenue property behind Zuck’s house – went to the Web2.0 kingpin with an offer to sell a portion of that lot to him so that he could have a bigger buffer between his own home and the new 9,600-square-foot house that the property developer was planning to build.

Instead, Zuckerberg offered to buy Voskerician’s legal right to the property so that he could later buy the entire lot himself.

It was claimed in the lawsuit that Zuck would introduce Voskerician to his rich buddies in exchange for a hefty discount to take over the contract to purchase the house. The men allegedly agreed on a $1.7m deal, even though Voskerician had received a separate offer for $4.3m from another party – a figure Zuck apparently claimed he could not match.

Now, in fresh court filings, Voskerician's real estate agent John Forsyth James reportedly said in a sworn declaration that his client's claims about the deal were accurate.

“He [Zuck] indicated that he would refer Mr Voskerician to others and promote him through his connections, his friends, clients of Facebook and others that Mr Zuckerberg knew to be influential,” the declaration stated, according to the New York Times.

At the end of the meeting, Zuckerberg's own real estate agent Terri Kerwin was quoted as saying "Mark always keeps his promises" having earlier allegedly described Zuck as "just a kid".

Another court filing sought permission to access details of the Facebook chief's personal finances and net worth, the NYT reported.

Zuck has denied all the allegations brought against him in the lawsuit. ®