text: Paul Ceglia, the 39-year-old western New York man who in 2010 sued Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg for 84% of the company, has been indicted on federal charges of wire and mail fraud for allegedly faking evidence in the case. 
   
   Ceglia claimed in his original lawsuit that Zuckerberg promised him a huge stake in Facebook in return for coding work on Facebook performed in 2003. According to this week's indictment, however, Ceglia was indeed contracted to work on Facebook, but he created a falsified contract “in which Zuckerberg agreed to provide Ceglia with at least a 50 percent interest in Facebook." 
   
   Ceglia, who was arrested and first charged in a criminal complaint last month, is also accused of creating fake e-mails and destroying evidence in the case against him. His previous plea was not guilty. 
   
   Each charge against Ceglia could put him behind bars for up to 20 years. He's scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, Nov. 28. 
   
   Facebook declined to comment on Ceglia's indictment, but a Facebook spokesman told Mashable of Ceglia's case against the company and its CEO in April that "this is a fraudulent lawsuit brought by a convicted felon, and we look forward to defending it in court. From the outset, we’ve said that this scam artist’s claims are ridiculous, and this newest complaint is no better." 
   
   A later court filing by Facebook's legal team called Ceglia's lawsuit a "brazen and outrageous fraud on the court." It also labeled Ceglia an "inveterate scam artist." 
   
   Photo Credit Bloomberg/Contributor/Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images ||||| The latest in a string of lawyers who have represented a man in a multibillion lawsuit against Facebook is expected to ask a federal judge Tuesday for permission to withdraw from the case. 
   
   Ohio attorney Dean Boland filed the request last month, a few days after his client, Paul Ceglia, was arrested on criminal charges accusing him of doctoring and destroying evidence to support his civil suit. 
   
   Ceglia has pleaded not guilty. 
   
   The request also comes as a motion by Facebook seeking to have Ceglia's lawsuit thrown out is pending. 
   
   Boland has not publicly said why he wants to withdraw, only that it has nothing to do with any belief that Ceglia engaged in fraud. He submitted his detailed reasons privately to the judge. 
   
   Attorneys for Menlo Park, California-based Facebook have asked the judge to make the reasons public, or at least disclose the reasons to them. Facebook won't oppose Boland's motion as long as it does not delay the case, the attorneys said in court filings. 
   
   At least a half dozen lawyers and firms have withdrawn as Ceglia's attorney before Boland. Their reasons have not been publicly disclosed. 
   
   Tuesday's hearing is expected to be conducted by telephone. Facebook's attorneys from the firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher are based in New York City, while Boland's office is in Lakewood, Ohio. Ceglia also is represented by attorney Paul Argentieri of Hornell. 
   
   Ceglia's 2010 lawsuit claims that he and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2003 signed a software development contract that included a provision entitling Ceglia to half-ownership of Facebook in exchange for $1,000 in startup money for Zuckerberg's then-fledgling idea. 
   
   Zuckerberg counters the document he signed had only to do with a street-mapping database called Streetfax that Ceglia had hired Zuckerberg, then a Harvard University student, to help develop. 
   
   Earlier this year, attorneys for Facebook and Zuckerberg filed a motion to have Ceglia's lawsuit dismissed, asserting that Ceglia had forged documents, fabricated emails and destroyed evidence. They also said he had waited too long _ six years _ to bring his claim and the statute of limitations had expired.
target: – Facebook cried fraud last year over the guy claiming he was entitled to 84% of the company—and Facebook might have been right. Paul Ceglia, who sued the company and Mark Zuckerberg in 2010, has now been indicted on fraud charges for allegedly faking evidence, Mashable reports. Ceglia is accused of creating a false contract "in which Zuckerberg agreed to provide Ceglia with at least a 50% interest in Facebook" in return for coding work Ceglia did in 2003. Ceglia is also charged with creating fake emails and destroying evidence; each charge carries a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years. Facebook's appeal to have the lawsuit against the company tossed is pending, and the latest of Ceglia's attorneys is seeking the permission of a federal judge to withdraw from the case, reports AP.