This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Poway Lawyer Takes on Facebook

Powegian Jeffrey Lake is representing a man who claims he owns half of Facebook.

Ten-year Powegian Jeffrey Lake has been making headlines in recent months as the newest representation for Paul Ceglia in the Ceglia v. Zuckerberg litigation, a case reminiscent of the 2004 Winklevoss v. Zuckerberg.

Lake, who’s done other high-profile cases, such as AAS v. Superior Court and various cases throughout California, has been hired by Ceglia after four previous law firms dropped the case. Ceglia filed for legal action against s Mark Zuckerberg in June of 2010, claiming he deserves 50 percent of the social network giant because he fronted Zuckerberg $1,000 to launch the site while at Harvard.

There are numerous emails and a written contract from 2003 to back Ceglia’s claim, but he must prove their authenticity since they are saved in a Word document and not from the original source. Zuckerberg claims the emails are fraudulent and that the contract was for Ceglia’s website, StreetFax, and not Facebook.

Find out what's happening in Powaywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Lake said in a written email to Patch that he’s known Ceglia’s longtime lawyer, Paul Argentieri, and has represented Argentieri’s family in other matters. He also said his ability to handle high-profile and controversial cases led to his role of lead litigator.

“I had been consulting on this case for several months in regards to assisting Paul Ceglia with finding a large law firm to handle the case, [as well as] litigation funding and legal theories, before I made my appearance in the case,” Lake said. “Because of my litigation experience … and my familiarity with the case, when DLA Piper [former representation] withdrew on the eve of a significant discovery motion, Paul Ceglia hired me to take over as lead trial counsel.”   

Find out what's happening in Powaywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The next big step in the case comes Sept. 9, when Facebook must show proof that the evidence Ceglia has produced, including emails and a work contract, are, in fact, forged. Lake said he expects Facebook’s experts, who will have pored over the emails and contract, to refuse to admit authenticity.

“I expect that Facebook will take the same position that they have all along,” Lake said, referring to Facebook’s claim that the contract was for Ceglia’s website, and not Facebook.

Lake also said Zuckerberg's lawyers will “concede the following facts”:

  • The original signatures on Page 2 of the “Work for Hire” contract dated April 28, 2003, are authentic.
  • The paper of both pages matches.
  • The toner matches on both pages and is from the proper time period.
  • The toner on both pages is consistent through the entirety of both pages and not different from the top of the page to the bottom of the page.
  • The interlineations on Page 1 left a matching indentation on Page 2.
  • The ink on the interlineations on Page 1 matches the ink of the signatures on Page 2.
  • The staple holes match, and the pages were only stapled once.
  • The metadata on the electronically stored information shows consistency with the date the contract and communications between Paul Ceglia and Mark Zuckerberg were written.

Facebook declined to comment on the Sept. 9 hearing.

Lake says he has complete confidence in the case and hopes only for Ceglia to get what he was promised back in 2003.

“[I hope] Paul Ceglia receives the benefit of the bargain resulting from the business relationship that he had with Mark Zuckerberg in 2003-2004,” Lake said.

Lake, who has lived in Poway for 10 years, ran for Poway City Council in 2004.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?