ConnectU: We're not through with Zuckerberg
Longstanding lawsuit from three of the young Facebook CEO's former Harvard classmates hits a new development as they claim to have come across incriminating IM conversations.
Scandal fans, rejoice--the crimson-hued nastiness between ConnectU and Facebook ain't over yet!
Court documents filed on Wednesday reveal that the founders of ConnectU, who claim that Facebook czar Mark Zuckerberg pilfered their business plan and code, are touting new "smoking-gun" evidence against the 24-year-old billionaire.
Facebook settled ConnectU v. Facebook in April, but ConnectU founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra say a search for related documents has produced some results.
Forensic expert Jeff Parmet was commissioned by ConnectU to trawl through Facebook hard drives after a court order opened them up for discovery in September.
Under an agreement that he would not discuss anything with ConnectU except developer code, Parmet produced a collection of documents to Massachusetts district court judge Douglas P. Woodlock that included the aforementioned instant-messaging logs.
But Woodlock's response was one of skepticism, especially considering that ConnectU had already signed the paperwork to settle the longstanding lawsuit. The three founders, who attended Harvard University alongside Zuckerberg, have been engaged in legal action against Facebook since 2004.
Documents filed Monday reveal that ConnectU also hired a new lawyer, D. Michael Underhill of the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner. The settlement is set to be approved June 23 in a court in San Jose, Calif., which is dealing with Facebook's countersuit against ConnectU that alleged its founders hacked Facebook's code to mine its member directory.
Facebook representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.