In the weeks and months that followed, Zuckerberg allegedly tried to cut ties to Ceglia, offering at various points to reimburse him the $2,000 investment, but Ceglia alleges that he never agreed to those offers, and that thus he still owns 50 percent of the company.

Ceglia originally met Zuckerberg when the latter responded to an online ad Ceglia had placed seeking programmers for his online service StreetFax.com, a database of traffic intersection photos and information aimed at insurance adjusters.

Ceglia paid Zuckerberg $1,000 for his coding work for StreetFax.com, and another $1,000 as an investment on Zuckerberg's social-networking-site project. The contract Ceglia submitted to the court is allegedly signed by Zuckerberg and stipulates granting Ceglia 50 percent "in the software, programming language and business interests derived from the expansion of that service to a larger audience," in reference to what later became Facebook.