eBay has reached a settlement with a Massachusetts couple who accused the company of orchestrating a "bizarre and premeditated" harassment campaign that involved live insects, funeral wreaths, and threats – resolving a civil lawsuit that had sought nearly $500m in damages.
U.S. District Judge Patti Saris dismissed the case on Wednesday after the tech giant, along with David and Ina Steiner, the publishers of the newsletter EcommerceBytes, informed the court they had reached an agreement.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The Steiners’ lawsuit, filed in 2021, followed 2019 accusations that eBay employees stalked and terrorised the couple at their home in Natick, Massachusetts.
According to court filings, staff members sent them live spiders, cockroaches, a bloody pig mask, and a funeral wreath, while also tailing them in their hometown and issuing threats on social media.
The employees also sent pornographic magazines with the husband’s name on them to a neighbor’s home and planned to break into the couple’s garage to install a GPS device on their car.
Seven former eBay employees have since pleaded guilty to criminal charges over the harassment, including the company’s former senior director of safety and security, James Baugh, who was sentenced in 2022 to nearly five years in prison. Another executive, David Harville, received a two‑year sentence for his role.
In court, David Steiner described the ordeal as “a living hell” and warned that the case should not become a blueprint for how corporations respond to critical reporting.
The Steiners’ civil suit also named eBay’s then‑chief executive, Devin Wenig, accusing him of helping set the harassment in motion. According to court documents, Wenig sent a message to a subordinate shortly after an EcommerceBytes article he disliked was published, saying: “If you are ever going to take her down … now is the time.”
Another executive described her as a "biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN.”
Both Baugh and Harville offered apologies to the Steiners before their 2022 sentencing, with Baugh telling the couple he hoped they might one day forgive him. “I take 100 per cent responsibility for this, and there is no excuse for what I have done," Baugh said. “The bottom line is simply this: if I had done the right thing and been strong enough to make the right choice, we wouldn’t be here today, and for that I am truly sorry.”
In 2020, federal prosecutors charged seven former eBay employees, alleging they carried out a coordinated harassment campaign against the couple after becoming angered by coverage in the couple’s online newsletter. Most of the defendants pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy and cyberstalking and were later sentenced to prison terms or home confinement.
In 2024, eBay Inc. agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty under a deferred prosecution agreement with federal authorities.
Wenig, who left eBay a month after the harassment campaign and received a $57m severance package, has denied knowing about the scheme and said he would have stopped it had he been aware.
The Steiners had been preparing for a trial scheduled to begin next week after years of legal manoeuvring. Instead, Judge Saris issued the dismissal order following notification of the settlement.
The Independent has contacted eBay for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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