Social networking site, Facebook paid woofing 65 million U.S. dollars to a smaller social network, ConnectU, in a confidential settlement deal; that’s what the law firm Quinn Emanuel inadvertently disclosed to The Recorder on Tuesday.

The Recorder reported that according to the law firm, Palo Alto, California based Facebook paid $65 million to ConnectU, in secret agreement, to end its legal battle with the smaller social network.

In its marketing newsletter boasting about its legal victories issued to the legal publication, The Recorder, the Los Angeles based Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges LLP, which was representing ConnectU, inadvertently revealed that ConnectU received $65 million in cash and stock options from Facebook. The Recorder also published the firm's marketing brochure.

The Recorder reported that the firm’s most recent newsletter that boasted of its dozens of other settlements including ConnectU vs Facebook, stated, “WON $65 million settlement against Facebook”. Facebook and ConnectU both declined to comment on the case.

The Recorder also revealed that John Quinn, the law firm’s chairman contacted the publication to not to publish the exact amount involved in the confidential deal. John Quinn, however, declined to comment on the issue.

Peter Calamari, a lawyer representing ConnectU, said the release was inadvertent. Calamari said, “Our PR people released something, and it didn't get caught by the people who knew. We had a policy against commenting or talking publicly about this case."

According to reports, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra founded ConnectU when they were students at Harvard University. Mark Zuckerberg, a fellow Harvard University graduate and now the CEO of Facebook, was hired by them as a programmer. The ConnectU accused Zuckerberg of stealing their business ideas, their code and business model to create his social networking site, Facebook.