Litigant who claimed he owned half of Facebook disappears ahead of fraud trial
Updated: The litigant who claimed he owned half of Facebook has disappeared ahead of his May criminal trial for allegedly fabricating evidence in his civil suit.
Paul Ceglia had been allowed to remain at home pending trial while wearing an ankle bracelet. When U.S. marshals visited Ceglia’s home on Sunday, the ankle bracelet was there but Ceglia was missing, Ceglia’s lawyer, Robert Fogg, told Reuters and Bloomberg Business.
Fogg told Bloomberg he doesn’t know where Ceglia is. “I haven’t got a clue,” Fogg said.
U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick of Manhattan revoked Ceglia’s bail on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Ceglia’s 2010 lawsuit had claimed his 2003 contract with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave him half ownership of the company. A federal judge determined the contract was faked and dismissed the lawsuit last year, spurring Facebook to sue the lawyers who represented Ceglia.
Ceglia, of Wellsville, New York, was charged in 2012 with a scheme to defraud Facebook and Zuckerberg in the civil suit by falsifying the contract and fabricating emails.
Updated on March 10 to state that Ceglia’s bail was revoked on Tuesday.
