Facebook believes that the lawyers knew about the forged documents that Paul Ceglia used in the lawsuit in 2010

Oct 21, 2014 11:41 GMT  ·  By

It’s not just Paul Ceglia who’s in trouble for forging documents claiming he was entitled to 84 percent of Facebook, but also his lawyers.

Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s CEO and co-founder, sued a series of lawyers who represented Paul Ceglia in the 2010 case that was dismissed earlier this year.

As you may know, Paul Ceglia said he had made a deal in 2003 which entitled him to get 50 percent of the website’s revenue and an additional 1 percent interest per day after January 2004 until the website was completed.

In the case he launched, Ceglia said he was entitled to 84 percent of the social network. His claim was dismissed after Facebook and Zuckerberg accused Ceglia of forging the documents he used as evidence of his ownership. As a matter of fact, in 2012, Ceglia was arrested for this very same deed, although the case is still pending.

Lawyers surely knew the documents were fake, Facebook thinks

Facebook filed a lawsuit on Monday, going straight to the New York County Supreme Court. The lawyers are being sued under the claim that they “knew or should have known that the [initial] lawsuit was a fraud.”

“We said from the beginning that Paul Ceglia’s claim was a fraud and that we would seek to hold those responsible accountable. DLA Piper and the other named law firms knew the case was based on forged documents, yet they pursued it anyway, and they should be held to account,” said Colin Stretch, Facebook General Counsel, for Re/code.

DLA Piper is one of the firms that represented Ceglia in the case, expressing its utmost agreement that the lawsuit and the documents were completely authentic. They’re not the only ones that are getting Facebook’s wrath, however, as the list includes more than a dozen defendants.

“This is an entirely baseless lawsuit that has been filed as a tactic to intimidate lawyers from bringing litigation against Facebook. DLA Piper, which was not part of this case at its outset or its conclusion, was involved for 78 days. Facebook and Mr. Zuckerberg claim that they were damaged in those 78 days, yet a mere 10 months after DLA Piper withdrew from the case and while the litigation was still pending, Facebook went to market with an initial public offering that valued the company at $100 billion (€78.42 billion). Today, Facebook is worth $200 billion (€156.85 billion) and Mr. Zuckerberg is among the richest people in the world. We will defend this meritless litigation aggressively and we will prevail,” the law firm said.

It’s unclear at this point whether Facebook intends to sue Ceglia himself or not.