Paul Ceglia, the upstate New York wood pellet salesman who claimed to co-own Facebook with Zuck, was just arrested at home on fraud charges. AP reports he could spend his next 40 years in prison. If you’re tempted — don’t.
Ceglia’s claims were always pretty laughable, hinging on (doctored) messages he claimed to have exchanged with Zuckerberg, wherein he gave Mark a grand, entitling him to 50-84 per cent of the company. If the odds of some pellet-selling loon being a Facebook financier seem remote, it’s because they probably are! We’ll see how this plays out in court, but it’s hard to imagine things will go well for Ceglia, who Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara says wanted a “quick payday based on a blatant forgery.”
The best way to pretend to own Facebook remains the tried and true “be a tremendously handsome and rich Winklevoss” strategy. [Forbes, AP]