Paul Ceglia, the man who claims that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sold him half of Facebook for $1,000, lost his fourth legal team this week.
Edelson McGuire withdrew quietly from the case, following in the footsteps of DLA Piper and Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman in June and Connors & Vilardo in April, according to AllThingsD. Partner Jay Edelson declined to comment on the change, referring all questions to Ceglia's lawyers -- now only Jeffrey Lake of San Diego and his long-time lawyer Paul Argentieri.
Ceglia's lawsuit against Facebook started last year, when he claimed to have given a young Mark Zuckerberg $1,000 to start what his lawsuit calls "the face book," in 2003. Facebook lawyers called Ceglia's alleged original contract and e-mails "complete fabrications," according to federal court papers. Both sides agree that Zuckerberg was contracted to do work for Ceglia -- for a site called StreetFax.com which dealt with photos of traffic intersections for insurance companies.
Losing a fourth legal team doesn't fill us, or likely anyone, with confidence about Ceglia's case. We suspected this was all about an out-of-court settlement, but with Facebook digging in its heels and Ceglia's revolving door of lawyers, Ceglia's pay day might never come.
