Family Of Man In Facebook Fraud Case Goes Missing
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A man charged with faking an ownership stake in Facebook jumped bail by slicing off an electronic monitoring device and creating a crude contraption to make it appear he was still at home, prosecutors say.
The revelation comes as investigators search not only for Paul Ceglia, but his wife and two young sons. All three are missing after Ceglia cut off his electronic ankle bracelet and escaped his home in Wellsville, New York, located in western New York, according to prosecutors.
After a pretrial services officer could not reach Ceglia, marshals forced their way into his home and found the ankle bracelet hanging from a ceiling-mounted, motorized device, prosecutors said in court papers, Bloomberg reported.
He faces a May trial on a charge he fraudulently claimed ownership in Facebook. His civil lawsuit against founder Mark Zuckerberg was thrown out after he was accused of doctoring a software development contract he signed with Zuckerberg in 2003.
Authorities say he made it appear Zuckerberg promised him half ownership in return for $1,000 in startup money.
Ceglia's lawyer, Robert Ross Fogg, told Bloomberg the government is improperly prosecuting his client for exercising his constitutional right to use the courts and pursue a civil lawsuit against Facebook.
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