Scammer Who Tried To Claim Facebook Ownership Caught In Ecuador After Being On The Run For Years

A few years ago, in 2010, a man named Paul Ceglia filed a lawsuit against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In it, Ceglia was suing hims for millions of dollars, saying the two had signed a software development contract in 2003.

The kicker was that, supposedly if Zuckerberg defaulted, ownership of Facebook would go to Ceglia.

Eventually, authorities discovered that Ceglia had forged the document. A wood pallet salesman by profession, it wasn¡¯t his first run-in with the law either. He¡¯d been previously arrested for a variety of things, from possession of small amounts of illegal magic mushrooms, to even wood pallet fraud. But the man was more than your average scamster, as evidenced by how he fooled law enforcement and escaped while out on bail in 2015.

At the time, Ceglia managed to escape by rigging a homemade contraption that kept his ankle bracelet in motion around his living room, giving the impression he was around the house. He then escaped with his wife and child and has been on the run ever since. According to Bloomberg, the now 45-year-old has finally brought into custody last week, after being discovered in his hiding place - Ecuador. He¡¯s expected to be extradited to the US after a hearing today.

When he gets back to the US, Ceglia could face up to 20 years in prison on just the original forgery charges. Then there¡¯s still the fact he ran from the justice system, meaning he¡¯s likely to get even more time behind bars. And all of it to con Zuckerberg out of some of that sweet Silicon Valley moolah.