Online retailer eBay Inc. has agreed to pay a $3 million fine to settle criminal charges regarding a disturbing harassment campaign carried out by its employees. Court documents filed on Thursday revealed that these employees sent live spiders, cockroaches, and other unsettling items to the home of a Massachusetts couple. The couple, David and Ina Steiner, operated an online newsletter called EcommerceBytes, which had drawn criticism from eBay executives due to its coverage.
The Justice Department has charged eBay with stalking, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice in a criminal information. The employees involved in the campaign had already been prosecuted for their actions. In an effort to resolve the charges, eBay has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, which may lead to the dismissal of the charges against the company if specific conditions are met, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts.
Acting Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Josh Levy expressed strong condemnation of eBay's conduct, describing it as 'absolutely horrific' and criminal. He stated that the employees and contractors involved in the campaign inflicted immense trauma on the victims, seeking to silence their reporting and protect eBay's brand. The Associated Press reached out to eBay for comment but received no immediate response.
In addition to the criminal charges, the Steiners have also filed a federal lawsuit against eBay, recounting the distress caused by cyberstalking and disturbing deliveries of anonymously sent packages. Ina Steiner received harassing Twitter messages and numerous strange emails from unexpected sources such as an irritable bowel syndrome patient support group and the Communist Party of the United States. Alongside the live spiders and cockroaches, the couple received a funeral wreath, a bloody pig mask, and a book about surviving the loss of a spouse. Moreover, their home address was posted online, inviting strangers to yard sales and parties.
The harassment began in 2019 after Ina Steiner wrote an article about a lawsuit brought by eBay accusing Amazon of luring away its sellers. Court records indicate that shortly after the article's publication, eBay's then-CEO, Devin Wenig, sent a message to another top executive stating, 'If you are ever going to take her down... now is the time.' Suspecting bias on the part of Ina Steiner, the executive forwarded Wenig's message to James Baugh, eBay's senior director of safety and security, referring to her as a 'biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN.'
Baugh was one of seven former eBay employees who pleaded guilty to charges in the case. He and another former executive, David Harville, received prison sentences of almost five years and two years, respectively. Wenig, who resigned as CEO in 2019, was not criminally charged and has denied any knowledge or involvement in the harassment campaign. In the civil case, his lawyers argued that the 'take her down' quote should be interpreted in the context of lawful action rather than criminal acts.
Prosecutors deemed Baugh the mastermind behind the scheme and alleged that he convinced Harville to travel with him to Boston to spy on the Steiners. The trio even attempted to install a GPS tracker on the couple's car by breaking into their locked garage. Harville's attorneys maintained his innocence, stating that he had no knowledge or involvement in the threatening messages or deliveries sent by his colleagues.
Baugh's lawyers, on the other hand, claimed that their client faced intense pressure from Wenig and other executives to take action against the Steiners. They asserted that Baugh was subsequently pushed out by the company as an 'army of outside lawyers' conducted an internal investigation aimed at protecting eBay and its top executives from prosecution.
