E-commerce website eBay and three of its former top executives will pay $55.7 million for conducting a “terror campaign” against journalists who wrote stories that were critical of the company.
In 2019, top-level eBay executives targeted married couple Ina and David Steiner, co-authors of EcommerceBytes, after they criticized the company in their newsletter.
The executives, under the direction of James Baugh, eBay’s chief of security, surveilled the authors, sent them threatening letters, cyberstalked them, and vandalized their home. Someone also mailed a pig fetus, fly larvae, adult magazines, a funeral wreath, a book about surviving a spouse’s death, a bloody pig mask, live spiders and cockroaches to them as part of the torment.
According to court documents, someone also attempted to attach a GPS tracking device to the couple’s vehicle but never completed it. Yet another internally discussed plan involved sending a “Samoan gang” to the Steiners’ house, according to TechCrunch.
David and Ina Steiner filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston in 2021. In 2022, prosecutors charged seven former eBay employees and contractors with crimes related to the conspiracy. They all entered guilty pleas for their parts in what the Steiners’ attorneys called a “terror campaign.” Authorities also criminally charged eBay, and the company agreed to pay a $3 million fine in 2022.
More details about the $55.7 million settlement
According to the Steiners’ attorneys, the couple will receive $48.7 million in compensation, including $46.15 million from eBay, $2 million from former eBay executive CEO Devin Wenig, $500,000 from former eBay executive Wendy Jones, and $50,000 from former eBay executive Steve Wymer.
eBay will also fund $6 million in charitable contributions to various nonprofit organizations. Former eBay executive CEO Devin Wenig will contribute an additional $1 million to a charity dedicated to protecting First Amendment rights in the name of Ina Steiner.
eBay also has to issue a strongly-worded public statement regarding the conduct of former eBay CEO Devin Wenig and former eBay executives Steve Wymer and Wendy Jones in connection with the events occurring in Natick, MA and the culture of the company in 2019.
“This case was always about more than obtaining financial recovery,” the Steiners’ lawyer Christopher Murphy said in a statement. “From the beginning, our clients wanted to uncover the truth, protect journalists and publishers, hold those responsible accountable, deter future corporate misconduct, and help ensure others would never have to endure what they experienced. Through years of discovery, motion practice and trial preparation, we were able to accomplish those objectives while securing meaningful compensation for two wonderful people. We believe this resolution sends a clear message that corporations and their executives cannot engage in this type of misconduct without facing significant consequences.”
On Tuesday, eBay released their required statement
“As we have long stated, what the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened,” eBay wrote in a statement released on Tuesday. “We condemn, in the strongest terms possible, the employees who perpetrated and pled guilty to criminal charges for the misconduct against Ina and David Steiner. We also acknowledge the unprofessional tone in internal communications demonstrated, to different degrees and number, by Mr. Wenig, Mr. Wymer, and Ms. Jones.
“We continue to extend our deepest apologies to the Steiners. This agreement is consistent with our commitment to fairly compensate the Steiners and fulfills our efforts to make things right.
“The 2019 conduct is not representative of eBay’s culture or thousands of employees around the world today. Since these events occurred, new leaders have joined the company and eBay has strengthened its policies, procedures, controls and training consistent with the company’s ongoing commitment to uphold high standards of conduct and ethics.”