Feds arrest Paul Ceglia over Facebook ownership claims A wannabe billionaire who claimed to own 84 per cent of Facebook based on a contract Mark Zuckerberg signed as a student has been arrested and charged with fraud. Paul Ceglia was arrested after being indicted for two counts of fraud: one case of postal fraud and one of wire fraud. If found guilty he faces a possible 40 years …
"... but it's a pretty savage indictment of the American legal system that he was able to make such a fuss based on such shoddy evidence and past character."
Whoa dude! Think about what you just said. If you're a low-life, or might be a low-life, you have no or limited rights?
Sorry guy, even prostitutes can have someone arrested and convicted for rape, given the evidence supports the case. The case is what should be judged, not the person bringing the case.
Of course when the evidence is found to be cooked and the case was fraudulent to begin with, throw the book at the fraudster indeed! I wish more nuisance lawsuits had negative results for the idjits trying the 17th time to make trouble for someone they don't like.
BTW: the above, anyway, knowing someone who sued the local council for being arrested, at a public meeting, for recording said meeting, where the council was agreeing to something illegal, and she lost the case, and $23K in legal fees down the drain, even though the judge agreed she had the truthful evidence! Justice is not done sometimes even when you're in the right. She felt getting the contradictions and collusion into the record worth the money. It ain't justice accomplished, but at least she got the trial.
So if 100 people all turn up making claims, with contracts they made and printed out last week, we should have 100 proper court cases lasting several years each?
The 'undeserving' have a right to justice but this should have taken about 5min to resolve, not years and involve Harvard trawling their backups. THAT is what's crazy. $millions of work done which the guy presumably won't be paying for.
"Sorry guy, even prostitutes can have someone arrested and convicted for rape, given the evidence supports the case. The case is what should be judged, not the person bringing the case."
Unfortunately this is America we are talking about...
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-03-29/news/31256504_1_convict-cop-jury-jurors
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/dominique-strauss-kahn/8611957/Dominique-Strauss-Kahn-walks-free-after-maid-rape-case-crumbles.html
If a business woman and a maid* struggle to get justice, not much of a chance for a prostitute.
*Sadly, in the maids case, it was exactly a case of judgement made before trial on her character (the heinous crime of violating some immigration rule) that meant she was obviously fair game.
This post has been deleted by its author
DLA Piper made some pretty strong statements, even after they should have known that it was a fraud. They would have happily split the take from the extortion. They only quit the case after it was clear it would cost them money.
Anonymous because it's dangerous to say something negative about a powerful law firm, even if it's just pointing out the obvious: that they lent their power to an extortion scheme.
Obviously, correspondent Iain Thomson isn't too legally that aware.
Thousands of 'convicted felons' in the USA commence suits annually. Just because they've been convicted of / framed with a charge doesn't deny them right to see a judge.
It isn't an 'indictment' of the American system, it's system that can be seen to function inasmuch that it this clam was exposed.
Calling in the 'Feds', or cops, is an old trick. Happened to me when a large American travel-related corporation decided that our differences should be settled in court. They sued me for a million dollars. They also called the cops, who swallowed their line hook, line and sinker. Fortunately I had a smart attorney who gave me instructions regarding my property and all the civil Gestapo found in my premises was me and my furniture.
They lost their claim and had to pay my costs.
Unless you know all the details t an be dangerous to 'assume' anything.
"...An examination of the document showed the two pages had different line and margin spacing, as well as inconsistencies in formatting..."
"...Investigators found that emails that purported to be from 2003 were in fact created in 2011 and then altered to make it look older by editing metadata..."
The guy sounds thick as pigshit. If not a Facebook progenitor, then obviously a Facebook user.
I would expect that many Facebook users can also use the 'format painter' as supplied with various document editing software. Or just save the original document as a template and drop the text in.
The levels of abuse, lack of suitable grey matter and the inability to format appear to be more consistent with serial YouTube commenters.
No it isn't, they wouldn't have it any other way. Convicting 14 & 15 year olds to life in prison because they accidently killed their friend by copying wrestling moves on TV - that's a savage indictment of the American legal system. Being railroaded into making a guilty plea because you are too poor to afford a lawyer (and you'd better believe the already overworked PD isn't going to push for a trial by a jury of your peers) is just how they do it in America. God help you if you're black or a bit "ethnic" - then you're really f*&%ed.
Paul Ceglia passed on all criteria he was white, had some money to his name and found a bunch of ambulance chasers willing to take up his fight.
> Convicting 14 & 15 year olds to life in prison because they accidently killed their friend by copying wrestling moves on TV
Nice sound bite, now for some facts.
The friend in question was a 6 year old girl who suffered a fractured skull, lacerated liver plus over 30 other injuries from being punched, kicked, stomped on and thrown multiple times. Do you think she asked him to stop? His claim that he was only copying wrestling could not account for all the injuries and the only other witness to what happened was the dead girl.
Because of his age he was offered a deal that would have seen him serve only 3 years in a juvenile prison and 10 years probation but he (and his family) refused to take any responsibility for his actions and attempted to get him off by claiming wrestling was to blame.
The verdict (and sentence) was overturned on appeal and he subsequently accepted the 3 year deal.
He is now serving 30 years for violating probation after being arrested for armed burglary with battery and armed robbery.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
