EBay to pay $3 million over harassing of couple behind newsletter

No intimidation: San Jose-based American multinational e-commerce company EBay has agreed to pay $3 million over the harassment of a couple who wrote against the company in a newsletter. 

The criminal probe in the United States is into a campaign by several eBay employees, who stalked and harassed a Massachusetts couple.

Their online newsletter was viewed as critical of the e-commerce company by senior employees of the firm.

Federal prosecutors in Boston on Thursday said that eBay had entered into a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve the case.

Notably, seven former eBay workers admitted to participating in the extensive 2019 campaign in 2019 which involved sending cockroaches, fly larvae and a bloody Halloween pig mask to the couple.

David and Ina Steiner were victims of the same, a married couple in Natick, Massachusetts, who produce the newsletter EcommerceBytes.

The couple have sued eBay over what they deem to be a relentless campaign by its employees to terrorise them.

The prosecutors charged eBay with six counts of stalking, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, terming the incident as"absolutely horrific" criminal conduct.

The $3 million fine was the maximum penalty prosecutors could seek after the incident, according to them.

"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 US Attorney Joshua Levy said in a statement.

The San Jose, California-based company admitted to facts about its conduct, agreeing to retain an independent corporate compliance monitor for three years.

EBay has also been mandated to make changes to its compliance program. Charges would be dropped after three years if it complies with the deal.

EBay CEO Jamie Iannone in a statement had called his company's conduct in 2019 "wrong and reprehensible." He added that eBay was "committed to upholding high standards of conduct and ethics and to making things right with the Steiners."

Senior executives deemed the Steiners' newsletter critical of eBay, according to the prosecutors’ statement. 

The Case

In August 2019, the Chief Executive Officer at that time, Devin Wenig texted another executive that it was time to "take her down," in reference to Ina Steiner.

Wenig is a former executive of Thomson Reuters, who stepped down as eBay's CEO in September 2019.

He was not charged, and his spokesman has said Wenig had "absolutely zero knowledge" of the actions eBay's employees undertook. 

The company did not respond to the developments, or issue a statement. 

The harassment campaign was overseen by Jim Baugh, who is a former Central Intelligence Agency employee and served as eBay's senior director of safety and security at that time. His lawyer has said he felt pressure to do something.

According to the prosecutors, the couple received anonymous, harassing Twitter messages, bizarre emails, and disturbing home deliveries that included spiders, a funeral wreath and a book on surviving the loss of a spouse, at the direction of Jim Baugh.

Baugh and others travelled from California to Natick in August 2019 for surveillance of the Steiners, attempting to install a GPS tracking device on their car. 

The couple spotted them and contacted the police which led to the federal investigation.

Baugh was sentenced in September 2022 to 57 months in prison. Others in the case have also received punishments, ranging from home confinement to two years in prison.

The lawsuit by the Steiners is pending trial, set for March 2025. 

In a statement, the couple said they are determined to "do whatever we possibly can to ensure that no corporation ever feels that the option exists for them to squash a person's First Amendment rights."