Facebook claimant flies to US from Ireland on judge's orders
The man who claims he owns more than half of Facebook has returned to the US from Ireland.
Facebook is fighting Ceglia's claim
Paul Ceglia , ordered by a judge last week to return from abroad walked in to the office of his home town newspaper, the Wellsville Daily Reporter in New York state, and announced “I’m back!”
Ceglia, 38, smiled as he said he was off to "find some important USB devices and memory sticks”- as instructed by the judge. His lawyer Dean Boland said they were eager to comply with Facebook's discovery demands. Attorneys for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg want to see what might be on those devices that is pertinent to the case.
Boland said he felt Facebook’s attorneys were trying to punish Ceglia by arguing for him to be brought back from Ireland, with the expense involved.
“We’re going to comply with the order," he said . There were five or six items Ceglia had to look for ... "but it’s really only two USB sticks that he has knowledge of. We’re really down to one USB device that my client acknowledges sticking into his computer. They don’t even have any evidence that there’s anything on these USB devices.”
In the suit, Ceglia, of Wellsville, claims to own 85 percent of Facebook. He’s argued that he has an authentic contract with Zuckerberg from their time together in Boston - before Facebook was actually founded. Zuckerberg worked for Ceglia in 2003 when he was 18 and a student at Harvard , writing computer code for StreetFax.com.
Boland said a contract with what is said to be both Ceglia’s and Zuckerberg’s signatures is the only real evidence in the case. Facebook says the document has been tampered with and is a fake. Boland said. “I’ve got news for you. That contract is authentic.”