Facebook sues lawyers

Facebook sues lawyers alleging they contributed to fraud

SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have filed suit against attorneys for Paul Ceglia, claiming they helped their client attempt to defraud the giant social network and its founder.

Ceglia is a New York state man with a checkered business history who became famous for suing Facebook.

He brought suit against Facebook in 2010, alleging he had a contract with Zuckerberg that entitled him to half of Zuckerberg's stake in the company.

Ceglia was represented by a series of attorneys including several from the firms of DLA Piper and Milberg.

Facebook maintained that Ceglia had concocted a scheme to defraud the company and Zuckerberg.

A grand jury eventually indicted Ceglia on federal fraud charges.

Lawyers for Facebook argue Ceglia's attorneys should have known that he was making false claims based on forged documents.

Ceglia is named as a defendant in the lawsuit filed in state court in Manhattan as one of his original attorneys, Paul Argentieri, whom Facebook alleges helped cook up the fraud.

In an emailed statement, DLA Piper called Facebook's lawsuit "baseless" and alleged Facebook was trying to "intimidate lawyers from bringing litigation against Facebook."

"We will defend this meritless litigation aggressively and we will prevail," the statement said.

Argienteri did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Robert Ross Fogg, Ceglia's attorney who is fighting the fraud charges, also called the lawsuit against Ceglia's previous attorneys is "ludicrous and baseless."

"It's an abhorrent use of our legal system," Fogg said.

Facebook does not see it that way.

"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," Colin Stretch, Facebook's general counsel said in an emailed statement.

Ceglia offered to pay Zuckerberg, then a Harvard student, $18,000 to work on a website in April 2003, according to the lawsuit.

They signed a contract but Ceglia only paid Zuckerberg about $8,000.

Ceglia is accused of forging the contract to make it look as if the two were working on a social network called "The Page Book."

The lawsuit got a big boost when DLA Piper took on Ceglia as a client, lending legitimacy to his claims, according to the lawsuit.

Ceglia's suit was eventually dismissed by a federal judge amid evidence he forged the documents. Prosecutors filed criminal charges against him in 2012.

Facebook and Zuckerberg want to be reimbursed for legal fees and to be paid punitive damages. They did not specify how much.