A man who claims Mark Zuckerberg owes him half of Facebook has said he fled the US because someone was planning to have him killed.

Paul Ceglia hinted at a high-level government conspiracy to silence him in emails to Bloomberg, a year after he disappeared from his New York home.

He claims he helped pay for half of the development work on Facebook back in 2003, but was later charged with forging documents to bolster his case.

A year ago police turned up at his home and found Mr Ceglia, along with his wife, two sons and dog, had disappeared.

Image: Ceglia says the CIA has invested in Facebook, a claim the firm denies

A court-ordered ankle bracelet was hanging from a ceiling fan to simulate movement, to make it look like he was still at home.


In emails to Bloomberg earlier this month he said he was forced to flee because of a "very credible" threat that he would be jailed and killed before his trial.

He said a public trial would have exposed the involvement of the CIA's venture-capital arm In-Q-Tel in Facebook. Mr Zuckerberg denies this.

Mr Ceglia said there was "no-one in government I could trust" so when an "opportunity presented itself ... I started running for my life".

Image: Mark Zuckerberg was hired by Ceglia in 2003, while at Harvard

"Everyone including our dog is happy and in good health. It has been a difficult and scary year for (us) but faith in God has seen us through and a determination to get justice has inspired me to keep going," he added.

Mr Ceglia hired Mr Zuckerberg in 2003 to do coding on his website StreetFax, but claims he also paid for half of Mr Zuckerberg's project which became Facebook.

A judge threw out a civil case in 2013 saying he had forged the contract and created fake emails between himself and Mr Zuckerberg.

He was charged with trying to defraud Facebook and Mr Zuckerberg, but denies wrongdoing.

Mr Ceglia says he has applied for asylum, but would not say in which country he is currently residing.