Ceglia hit with $5,000 fine as Facebook mulls dismissal request
A federal court judge has hit Paul Ceglia with a fine over delays in making his e-mails available in his case against Facebook.
According to Buffalo News, which attended the court hearing yesterday, Ceglia was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine for part of Facebook’s attorney fees and expenses for trying to keep his e-mail messages out of his case against Facebook. U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie G. Foschio said in court yesterday that “the circumstances under which [Ceglia] attempted to avoid complying establishes a plain lack of respect for the court’s order which cannot be countenanced.”
Ceglia was ordered to hand over his e-mails account and passwords last August. After he failed to do so, Facebook filed a motion in the U.S. District Court in Buffalo, N.Y. in October, requesting an order that compelled him to do so. That hearing also revealed that Ceglia’s attorney at the time, Jeffrey Lake, was told by Ceglia that he wouldn’t comply with the order.
If I were attempting to extort, um, that is, demand billions from someone, I think I would try a little harder to appear honest, respectable and trustworthy. Every single news item about this guy reveals more about his sleazy, illicit, scamming ways. This lawsuit surely has no merit.