By Sharon Gaudin<\/p>\n
October 26, 2012 01:14 PM ET<\/p>\n
Computerworld –\u00a0The FBI has arrested Paul Ceglia for attempting to defraud Facebook and its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in a scheme to grab a large stake in the company and billions of dollars.<\/p>\n
Federal agents picked up 39-year-old Ceglia at his home in Wellsville, N.Y. this morning, according to a report in\u00a0Forbes<\/em>.<\/p>\n Ceglia first filed a lawsuit in June 2010, claiming he signed a contract with Zuckerberg that\u00a0entitles him to 84% ownership<\/a>\u00a0of what is easily the world’s largest social network. In an amended filing last year, though, Ceglia modified his claim, alleging he was\u00a0owed 50% of Zuckerberg’s stake<\/a>\u00a0in the social networking company.<\/p>\n According to a\u00a0criminal complaint<\/a>\u00a0filed with the Southern District of New York, Ceglia is accused of using the U.S. Postal Service as part of a fraudulent scam against Facebook and Zuckerberg.<\/p>\n Ceglia is being charged with mail fraud and wire fraud.<\/p>\n “Ceglia filed a federal lawsuit falsely claiming that he was entitled to at least a 50% interest in Facebook,” the complaint contends. “Ceglia has deliberately engaged in a systematic effort to defraud Facebook and Zuckerberg and to corrupt the federal judicial process.”<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, today’s arrest was met with excitement at Facebook.<\/p>\n “We commend the United States Attorney for charging Ceglia with federal crimes in connection with his fraudulent lawsuit against Facebook,” Orin Snyder, a partner with Gibson Dunn, attorneys for Facebook and Zuckerberg, said in an email to\u00a0Computerworld<\/em>. “Ceglia used the federal court system to perpetuate his fraud and will now be held accountable for his criminal scheme.”<\/p>\n The complaint also contends that Ceglia and Zuckerberg had signed a contract between them, but it had nothing to do with Facebook, did not reference Facebook and did not give Ceglia any interest in the social network.<\/p>\n And federal investigators allege that as part of his scheme, Ceglia manufactured and destroyed evidence, for instance replacing a page of the original contract with a fraudulent one that made it look like Zuckerberg had offered Ceglia interest in the company.<\/p>\n The complaint even has a section titled: The Founding of Facebook Did Not Involve Ceglia.<\/p>\n In 2011, Facebook attorneys filed court documents saying they had found evidence that Ceglia had concealed or destroyed relevant documents, including six missing USB drives.<\/p>\n The social network’s lawyers said they had uncovered an “authentic” contract that showed that Ceglia wasn’t owed any interest in Facebook.<\/p>\n Sharon Gaudin<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for\u00a0<\/em>Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at\u00a0\u00a0@sgaudin<\/a>, on\u00a0Google+<\/a>\u00a0or subscribe to\u00a0Sharon’s RSS feed<\/a>\u00a0. Her email address is\u00a0sgaudin@computerworld.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n See\u00a0more by Sharon Gaudin on Computerworld.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Sharon Gaudin October 26, 2012 01:14 PM ET Computerworld –\u00a0The FBI has arrested Paul Ceglia for attempting to defraud Facebook and its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in a scheme to grab a large stake in the company and billions of dollars. Federal agents picked up 39-year-old Ceglia at his home in Wellsville, N.Y. this morning, … Continue reading Feds Arrest Ceglia for Trying to defraud Facebook, Zuckerberg<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjcihon.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjcihon.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjcihon.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pjcihon.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pjcihon.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pjcihon.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"https:\/\/pjcihon.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/140\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjcihon.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}