By Dara Bradley

An Irish/American man who was reared in Galway and who claims to own half of the social networking website, Facebook, has confirmed to the Connacht Sentinel that he is living locally.

Paul Ceglia, who filed a lawsuit claiming to own half of the website which is worth one billion dollars, has Corofin roots and yesterday confirmed to this newspaper that he has been living in Galway for the past two months.

He declined to give an exact location but said he moved to Galway because Facebook investigators were following his every move and it “started to get a little scary”.

In reference to the lawsuit, he added: “Wars break out over far less money and control.”

Mr Ceglia said while in Galway he is developing a new product, a combination cook stove and refrigerator, for use in the developing world. He is here with his wife and children and will remain here until “I have the bugs worked out of the prototype and it’s ready to manufacture”.

In recent weeks there had been intense local, national and international speculation that Mr Ceglia was ‘lying low’ in Galway while the civil case over the ownership of Facebook continues in the United States.

His uncle, Frank Keaveney who lives in Tuam, told our sister newspaper The Connacht Tribune last week that Mr Ceglia was not “on the run” in Galway and that he had not moved to Ireland.

But since Frank’s denials appeared in print, Mr Ceglia contacted us looking for his uncle’s contact details so that he could track him down and be reunited.

“I am in Galway, I’d like to keep my exact location private for obvious reasons. I came about two months ago . . . I’ve searched for my uncle every time I go to Tuam but I haven’t had any luck finding him. We spent a lot of time together when I was a kid. I’m looking forward to tracking him down,” said Mr Ceglia.

Asked why he was in Galway, Mr Ceglia said: “I wanted to make sure Facebook’s hired guns couldn’t just continue to follow my every move and it started to get a little scary. As a friend put it, ‘wars break out over far less money and control’.”

Read more in today's Connacht Sentinel