New Delhi: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been reportedly charged with fraud in an ongoing case in which his neighbour has allegedly accused him of not keeping his promise in a land deal.
Developer Mircea Voskerician alleges that Zuckerberg committed fraud by not keeping his word in a $1.7 million land deal that ended plans for a mansion construction and business referrals by the founder.
Although the 31-year-old Facebook founder requested for the said charges to be dismissed, a state judge in San Jose, California, Patricia Lucas, has rejected the appeal and has announced that she’ll consider Zuckerberg’s arguments before making a final decision, Bloomberg reports.
Meanwhile, in an interesting twist to the case, attorney David Draper, who represents the plaintiff, has confirmed that he is seeking to withdraw from the case, without disclosing the reason, just week before the trial.
The case grew out of a deal gone wrong in 2012 in which Voskerician had given a 40 per cent discount on the property rights to buy the house behind Zuckerberg’s house in Palo Alto for a promise of being introduced and referred to boost his business, an ‘oral’ promise, as alleged, which Zuckerberg failed to keep.
Judge Lucas has also ruled that Divesh Makan, a financial adviser to Zuckerberg, must face a claim that he was part of a conspiracy to defraud Voskerician.
The deal required Voskerician to drop plans to build a 9,600-square-foot home at the site which, if constructed, would have been with a view overlooking Zuckerberg’s bedroom.
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