EBay to pay $3M fine to resolve harassment case
BOSTON – Online retailer eBay Inc. will pay a $3 million fine to resolve criminal charges over a harassment campaign waged by employees who sent live spiders, cockroaches and other disturbing items to the home of a Massachusetts couple, according to court papers filed Thursday.
The Justice Department charged eBay with stalking, witness tampering and obstruction of justice more than three years after the employees were prosecuted in the extensive scheme to intimidate David and Ina Steiner. The couple produced an online newsletter called EcommerceBytes that upset eBay executives with its coverage.
California-headquartered eBay has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement that could result in the charges against the company being dismissed if it complies with certain conditions, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts.
“EBay engaged in absolutely horrific, criminal conduct. 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,” acting Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Josh Levy said in an emailed statement.
The deferred prosecution agreement says eBay accepted responsibility for the harassment and intimidation, and for obstructing the federal investigation. The agreement calls for an independent monitor to oversee the company for three years to ensure its compliance with the terms and federal law. The $3 million criminal penalty was the maximum possible fine under the charges.
The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to eBay on Thursday. An email also was sent to a spokesperson for Devin Wenig, who was the company’s CEO when the employees targeted the Steiners.
The couple, who served as the newsletter’s publisher and editor, have sued eBay in federal court, describing how cyberstalking and upsetting deliveries of anonymously sent packages upended their lives.
Ina Steiner received harassing and sometimes threatening Twitter messages as well as dozens of strange emails from groups like an irritable bowel syndrome patient support group and the Communist Party of the United States.
Along with a box of live spiders and the cockroaches, the couple had a funeral wreath, a bloody pig mask and a book about surviving the loss of a spouse show up at their door. Their home address also was posted online with announcements inviting strangers to yard sales and parties.
In a statement published on their website Thursday, the Steiners said eBay’s actions had “a damaging and permanent impact” on them “emotionally, psychologically, physically, reputationally, and financially.” They also expressed frustration that more executives were not charged.
The harassment started in 2019 after Ina Steiner wrote a story about a lawsuit brought by eBay that accused Amazon of poaching its sellers, according to court records. A half-hour after the article was published, thenCEO Wenig sent another top executive a message saying: “If you are ever going to take her down … now is the time,” according to court documents.