Fraud Lawsuit Against Mark Zuckerberg Dropped

A property developer who sued Mark Zuckerberg over a land deal has dropped the case on one condition: the Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) billionaire won't countersue him.

Neighbour Mircea Voskerician claimed in a lawsuit that he sold Mr Zuckerberg land behind the his Palo Alto home for a reduced price.

In exchange, he claimed the Facebook founder promised to introduce him to other wealthy people in Silicon Valley who may want to buy homes from him.

He claimed that Mr Zuckerberg did not honour his part of the deal, and decided to sue.

Mr Zuckerberg has always denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer welcomed the fact that the case has now been dropped.

In return, Mr Zuckerberg has agreed not to sue Mr Voskerician.

Patrick Gunn said: "Mr Voskerician's decision to abandon his lawsuit confirms what we have always maintained, that his claims lacked merit and his case was nothing more than a fraudulent attempt to extort millions of dollars from Mr Zuckerberg.

"We are pleased this years-long harassment has come to an end and that plaintiff will see no financial gain from his misconduct."

Mr Gunn said the plaintiff had relied on "doctored evidence" to support his case.

A trial was due to take place at Santa Clara County Superior Court on 25 April, at which Mr Zuckerberg would have been called to give evidence.

Mr Voskerician's lawyer Guyton Jinkerson said: "Upon careful reflection we determined that this case should be resolved and we worked with counsel for the defendants to reach an equitable settlement of this matter.

"We are pleased that the parties have been able to bring an end to this litigation."