Paul Ceglia is the founder of businesses such as Greensprings Natural Cemetery, StreetFax, PageBook, and Allegany Pellets.
19 Facts About Paul Ceglia
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Paul Ceglia was born in Wellsville, New York to an Italian-American father, Carmine Paul Ceglia, and an Irish mother.
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Paul Ceglia moved around after high school, spending two years teaching at an alternative school in Taos, New Mexico and opened an ice cream stand in New York.
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Paul Ceglia claims he bought and sold real estate, built and renovated homes in Wellsville and the Bahamas, helped start an eco-friendly cemetery in Ithaca, New York, and was a founding member of the local Green Party.
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Paul Ceglia told Businessweek: "I like to think about myself as someone that is driven by trying to contribute in some way to increasing the consciousness on the planet", which he states on his Facebook page.
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Paul Ceglia has three sons and one daughter, with his wife, Iasia.
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Paul Ceglia's third son was born in Ecuador while he was a fugitive.
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Paul Ceglia met future Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2003, when Paul Ceglia posted a Craigslist advertisement seeking help with his website StreetFax.
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The purported contract obligated Paul Ceglia to pay Zuckerberg $1,000 for StreetFax and $1,000 for another project called PageBook.
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Paul Ceglia proffered a $1,000 receipt from his checkbook, dated six months after the contract, as evidence that he paid Zuckerberg for his work.
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The evidence presented by Paul Ceglia was determined to be fabricated.
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Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman withdrew as counsel in early 2011, when their own analysis concluded that the contract Paul Ceglia was using as evidence had been forged.
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On June 29,2011, DLA Piper withdrew from the case, and Paul Ceglia retained Jeffrey Lake.
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In October 2014, Facebook filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against DLA Piper, Milberg LLP and Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman for malicious prosecution, claiming that these firms should have known that Paul Ceglia's case was based on forged documents.
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On October 26,2012, federal agents arrested Paul Ceglia and charged him with fabricating evidence in relation to his suit against Zuckerberg.
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In March 2015, authorities discovered that Paul Ceglia had removed his GPS tracking device and issued a warrant for his arrest.
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Law enforcement officials expressed concern that Paul Ceglia was out of the country.
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Paul Ceglia was later found in Ecuador and arrested by local authorities on August 23,2018.
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In December 2009, the then-Attorney General of New York Andrew Cuomo announced a temporary restraining order banning Paul Ceglia from taking advance payments from consumers, destroying any business records or property, or transferring any assets.