The Winklevoss twins might have given up their appeal to have their $65 million stock and cash settlement with Facebook set aside, but that doesn’t mean they’re giving up their claims they were instrumental in creating Facebook. In a status report with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts—that’s Harvard country—the Winklevoss twins and former classmate Divya Narendra have indicated they will move for discovery to determine whether Facebook suppressed evidence during the 2008 settlement negotiations.
The evidence in question are instant messages that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg allegedly sent while at Harvard that supposedly cast Zuckerberg’s relationship with the plaintiffs in a different light. While at Harvard, the twins and Narendra founded a company called “ConnectU” that was intended to serve as a dating site for students. They hired Zuckerberg to work on the site; Zuckerberg allegedly delayed the ConnectU site so he could complete and launch the first edition of Facebook first.
The alleged instant message conversations were leaked in 2010. Highlights include statements like:
“So you know how I’m making that dating site [the twins’ site]. I wonder how similar that is to the Facebook thing. Because they’re probably going to be released around the same time. Unless I f*** the dating site people over and quit on them right before I told them I’d have it done.”
Facebook’s outside counsel has told PCWorld that the company believes the allegations are baseless and had previously been rejected in the courts.
