The online retailer eBay Inc. has consented to pay a $3 million fine in order to resolve criminal charges pertaining to an upsetting campaign of harassment. Employees of the campaign sent live spiders, cockroaches, and other eerie things to a couple’s Massachusetts home. Court documents that were filed on Thursday disclosed this information.
The Justice Department has accused eBay of a number of grave crimes, including witness tampering, stalking, and obstruction of justice. More than three years ago, the staff members were already charged in a complex plot to threaten David and Ina Steiner. The pair launched an e-newsletter called EcommerceBytes, the coverage of which infuriated eBay executives.
As per the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts, eBay has reached a deferred prosecution agreement that could result in the dismissal of charges against the California-based company, subject to certain conditions being met.
“eBay participated in heinous, illegal behavior. Acting Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Josh Levy said in an email that “the company’s employees and contractors involved in this campaign put the victims through pure hell, in a petrifying campaign aimed at silencing their reporting and protecting the eBay brand.”
The Associated Press emailed eBay on Thursday asking for a response.
The newsletter’s publisher and editor, The Steiners, have also sued the massive e-commerce company in federal court. They described the upsetting experience of receiving packages sent by strangers and how cyberstalking upended their lives.
A plethora of odd emails and unsettling tweets from unexpected sources, such as the Communist Party of the United States and a support group for people with irritable bowel syndrome, deluged Ina Steiner.
A box filled with live spiders and cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a bloodied pig mask, and a book on grieving for a spouse were among the things that showed up at the couple’s door. Online postings featuring invitations to parties and yard sales revealed their home address.
According to court documents, the harassment started in 2019 after Ina Steiner published an article about a lawsuit that eBay had filed against Amazon, alleging that its sellers had been poached.
According to court documents, eBay’s then-CEO, Devin Wenig, sent a message to another top executive a half hour after the article was published, stating, “If you are ever going to take her down… now is the time.” The executive labeled Ina Steiner a “biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN” and forwarded Wenig’s message to James Baugh, senior director of safety and security at eBay.
Baugh was one of the seven former workers who subsequently acknowledged their involvement in the crime. He was given a sentence of almost five years in prison in 2022. David Harville was the recipient of a two-year sentence.
Wenig, who resigned as CEO in 2019, has denied knowing about the harassment campaign and never having advised anyone to break the law. He has also not faced any criminal charges in connection with the case. His attorneys have claimed that the phrase “take her down” was misinterpreted and that it is more likely that he was speaking of “lawful action” rather than “a series of bizarre criminal acts” in the civil lawsuit.
Authorities say that Baugh, who prosecutors believe was the scheme’s mastermind, hired Harville to go with him to Boston so he could learn more about the Steiners. Prosecutors claim that Baugh, Harville, and a different eBay employee went to the couple’s house with the goal of equipping their vehicle with a GPS tracker. Prosecutors claim that the three realized the garage was locked. Harville retaliated by buying tools in an attempt to get inside.
Harville was not involved in or aware of the threatening messages or deliveries sent by his colleagues, according to his attorneys.
According to Baugh’s attorneys, Wenig and other executives put constant pressure on their client to take action regarding the Steiners. When “an army of outside lawyers descended to conduct a ‘internal investigation’ aimed at saving the company and its top executives from prosecution,” according to Baugh, he was then fired by the company.
