New York – A federal judge has officially closed the book on a New York man’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit claiming half-ownership of Facebook.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Judge Richard Arcara has granted Facebook and founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motion to dismiss Paul Ceglia’s (SEHG’-lee-uhz) lawsuit.
Last week’s ruling affirms a magistrate judge’s recommendation from a year ago saying the lawsuit should be thrown out because the contract Ceglia based it on was faked.
Ceglia is from Wellsville. He claimed he and Zuckerberg signed a 2003 software development contract that included a provision entitling him to half-ownership of Facebook in exchange for startup money for the budding company.
Facebook lawyers say the two had a contract but references to Facebook were slipped in for the lawsuit.
Ceglia awaits trial on related criminal fraud charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
If he’s right he should get half of Facebook, if he is wrong it should all be dismissed and if he made fake additions to the contract he should have to pay the Facebook legal fees for dealing with him.