Alleged Facebook scammer from Allegany County arrested in Ecuador

Paul Ceglia, an Allegany County man who claimed he owned half of the social networking giant Facebook and disappeared in 2015 just before his fraud trial in Manhattan federal court began, is being held in Ecuador and in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, a Marshals Service spokesman confirmed to The Buffalo News Thursday.

The arrest was also confirmed by Robert Ross Fogg, Ceglia's Buffalo attorney in the criminal case.

"I don't know the circumstances of how he was caught, but I received a copy of a letter from the federal prosecutor in New York City stating that Paul was arrested in Ecuador this morning," Fogg told The News Thursday afternoon. "I understand there will be an extradition hearing in Ecuador within the next 24 hours."

In 2010, Paul Ceglia filed a lawsuit against Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg claiming he owned half of the social networking giant.

Ceglia's suit was based on his contention that he and Zuckerberg signed a contract in 2003. Facebook acknowledges that Zuckerberg signed a contract with Ceglia while a student at Harvard University, but the social media giant contends that the contract had nothing to do with Facebook.

Read more: https://buffalonews.com/2018/08/23/facebook-scammer-from-allegany-county-reportedly-found-in-ecuador/