Judge orders Mark Zuckerberg to turn over all emails related to man who claimed majority ownership in Facebook
- Paul Ceglia on the run from criminal charges he falsely claimed ownership
- His family accused Facebook and prosecutors of conspiring against him
- Judge said Mark Zuckerberg has two days to hand over all relevant emails
- The order ignores Zuckerberg’s request to wait until Ceglia is found
Mark Zuckerberg must release documents and electronic correspondence to a defense lawyer whose client has fled from criminal charges that he falsely claimed a majority ownership in the social media giant
Facebook has two days to release all emails to a defense lawyer whose client has fled from criminal charges that he falsely claimed a majority ownership in the social media giant.
The documents requested include details relating to a contract with Paul Ceglia during an 18-month stretch beginning in 2003.
Ceglia has been on the run for a month after cutting off his electronic ankle bracelet. His father told a court they believe Facebook and the prosecutors were conspiring against him.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick told Facebook Inc. and owner Mark Zuckerberg they have until Monday to relinquish the information that was requested by Ceglia’s lawyer, Robert Ross Fogg.
The order ignores Zuckerberg’s request to wait until Ceglia is caught before handing over the documents.
Mark Zuckerberg must release documents and electronic correspondence to a defense lawyer whose client has fled from criminal charges that he falsely claimed a majority ownership in the social media giant
With a May 4 trial approaching, Ceglia cut off his electronic ankle bracelet last month and fled. His wife, two children and dog are also missing from their home in Wellsville, 70 miles southeast of Buffalo.
Ceglia’s father told Broderick at a hearing last week that he believed his son might have fled because he believed Facebook and Zuckerberg were working together with prosecutors against him, jeopardizing his chance for a fair trial. The judge said he would not allow a trial to proceed unjustly.
Federal prosecutors had urged Broderick not to force Facebook and Zuckerberg to turn over the documents, saying doing so would ‘reward Ceglia’s flouting of the judicial process while unreasonably drawing on the resources of the government and the authority of the court.’
The criminal case against Ceglia was brought after a judge threw out his 2010 civil lawsuit claiming that he gave Zuckerberg, a student at Harvard University at the time, $1,000 in startup money in exchange for 50 percent of the future company.
Prosecutors said a forensic analysis of his computers and Harvard’s email archive determined Ceglia had altered an unrelated software development contract he signed with Zuckerberg in 2003 and falsified emails to make it appear Zuckerberg had promised him a half-share of Facebook.
Zuckerberg has said he didn’t come up with the idea for Facebook until months after he responded to Ceglia’s online help-wanted ad and signed a contract agreeing to create some software for him.
A lawyer for Facebook and Zuckerberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday on the judge’s order. Neither did a spokesman for government attorneys nor Fogg.
Fogg said in an email Wednesday that he and others ‘continue to fight for Paul, even in his absence, with the same vigor and fortitude and in a sense — more determined than ever.’