CLOSE An analyst following developments with Facebook says fake accounts that the social media giant removed from its site this week show the creators of these accounts are branching out to focus on world events, not just U. S. affairs. (Aug. 22) AP Facebook fraud suspect Paul Ceglia shown in a 2012 photo(Photo: U. S. Marshals Service) […]
The New York man who falsely claimed to own 50 percent of Facebook was captured Thursday in Ecuador after nearly 3 1/2 years as a fugitive.
Paul Ceglia, 45, went missing from upstate New York in March 2015 after he removed his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet — taking off with his wife, two children and the family dog.
Prosecutors on Thursday notified U. S. District Judge Vernon Broderick that Ceglia had been located and arrested in Quito, Ecuador’s capital. He is set to appear in court within 24 hours.
Prosecutors said they would update the presiding judge on the status of extradition attempts.
Ceglia, a former wood pellet salesman with a checkered business past, fled the country just two months before he was scheduled to go to trial in Manhattan federal court for cooking up a scheme to defraud Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg out of half of his stake in the company.
He filed a suit in 2010 alleging that while Zuckerberg was studying at Harvard, the tech billionaire signed a contract giving Ceglia partial ownership of the website that later became Facebook. He also claimed he gave Zuckerberg $1,000 in startup money as part of the software development deal.
More: Facebook’s Onavo security app taken down from Apple store for violating user privacy
Related: Facebook is judging how trustworthy you are: What you need to know
Also: Facebook foils political influence campaigns originating in Iran, Russia ahead of U. S. midterms
Facebook lawyers confirmed that there was indeed a contract between Zuckerberg and Ceglia, but insisted that the social networking website was not a part of the deal.
A Buffalo judge tossed out Ceglia’s lawsuit in 2014.
Later, a forensics analysis of the documents in question determined that Ceglia had not only altered an unrelated contract but also created fake emails to support his claims.
Prior to vanishing, Ceglia maintained his innocence. He faces mail and wire fraud charges that would carry a potential maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
Ceglia’s lawyer, Robert Ross Fogg, was surprised his client had been located, but said that he looks “forward to his return and resuming our vigorous defense of his case.”
Follow Dalvin Brown on Twitter, @Dalvin_Brown
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2BGk8Dh
