Just a day after a US court threw out a claim from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss for a bigger slice of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, more details have emerged about the man who claims he is entitled to 50% of the social networking giant.
Overnight, New York man Paul Ceglia submitted new evidence in a lawsuit against Facebook, including a series of emails from 2003 and 2004 which he says prove his claim that he is entitled to 50% of the company based on a $1000 investment he gave to Zuckerberg during the start-up phase, in exchange for a half share.
The emails, (analysed here by Business Insider) are reported to include discussions about Ceglia’s payments, the terms of his agreement with Zuckerberg and the development of Facebook site.
However, Facebook has declared that the emails – and the contract that Ceglia claims shows he is entitled to 50% of the company – are fake.
“This is a fraudulent lawsuit brought by a convicted felon, and we look forward to defending it in court,” Orin Snyder, an attorney with Facebook’s law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, said in a written statement.
“From the outset, we’ve said that this [man’s] claims are ridiculous and this newest complaint is no better.”
Ceglia’s original claim, filed last year, included only his contract with Zuckerberg.
He has said he brought the claim forward after seven years because he only recently found the contract in a pile of old papers.
Ceglia was convicted of drug possession in 1997, has secured new legal representation in his claims against Facebook from law firm DLA Piper, which says it did extensive due diligence before taking on the case.
It is not year clear when Ceglia’s claims will be heard in court.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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