NEW YORK – Facebook and its founder must release documents and electronic correspondence to a defense lawyer whose client has fled from criminal charges that he falsely claimed a majority ownership in the social media giant, a federal judge said Friday.
U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick ordered Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg to relinquish documents by Monday that were requested by Paul Ceglia’s lawyer, Robert Ross Fogg.
The judge said he received a letter Thursday from lawyers for Facebook Inc. and Zuckerberg asking that an order he issued earlier in the week to promptly turn over requested documents be suspended until Ceglia is caught.
Documents requested include all electronic communications Zuckerberg had about a Ceglia contract during an 18-month stretch beginning in 2003.
With a May 4 trial approaching, Ceglia cut off his electronic ankle bracelet last month and fled. His wife, two children and dog also are missing from their home in Wellsville, 70 miles southeast of Buffalo.