Paul Ceglia first talked up his lawsuit against Facebook last year, when he claimed to have given a young Mark Zuckerberg $1,000 to start what his lawsuit calls "the face book," in 2003. Facebook and most everyone seemed to laugh off the allegation that he was owed any of Facebook.
Now Ceglia's back, armed with e-mails and better lawyers and wants half of the company. The e-mails are some compelling reading, but there's no way to verify their authenticity. From the Wall Street Journal, an alleged Zuckerberg e-mail:
I have recently met with a couple of upperclassmen here at Harvard that are planning to launch a site very similar to ours. If we don’t make a move soon, I think we will lose the advantage we would have if we release before them. I’ve stalled them for the time being and with a break if you could send another $1000 for the facebook (sic) project it would allow me to pay my roommate or Jeff to help integrate the search code and get the site live before them. Please give me a call so that we can talk more about this.
My favorite line is allegedly from Ceglia who after hearing Zuckerberg is no longer working on the project and owes him nothing, says, "“Grow up, take a f—— ethics class, choke yourself with that silver spoon of yours.”
Unfortunately for Ceglia, who's been accused of fraud in the past, he might not have as much credibility as he would like. Still, a chance at a $10 billion stake in Facebook may be enough to stretch anyone's credibility.
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<a href="http://" target="_blank">VIDEO: And Next Media Animation has its artistic video interpretation of how this will all play out, <a href="http://" target="_blank">here.
