Facebook filed a motion on Monday to dismiss a lawsuit against it from a New York state man who claimed that he owned half the company, according to media reports.
“Today’s motion proves, beyond any doubt, that Ceglia, a career criminal and hustler, has perpetrated a massive fraud on the federal courts and Facebook,” according to the documents.
Paul Ceglia of upstate New York claims that he came to an agreement with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg early on in the company’s history that he would get at least 50 percent of the company.
The social networking company claimed that Ceglia, who filed the lawsuit in 2010, forged documents to make it look like the Facebook agreed to give him the large share. The company also states that Ceglia forged emails and used historic inaccuracies.
In an interview with ZDNet last year, Ceglia said Facebook was responsible for the forgery. “I won’t let you sell this company out from under me—not while I have the power to stop you,” he said, referring to Facebook declaring its initial public offering.
