eBay and three of its former top executives have agreed to pay $55.7 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a Massachusetts couple who were subjected to a bizarre stalking and harassment campaign carried out by company employees in retaliation for their reporting on the e-commerce giant.
The settlement, announced late Monday, resolves a federal lawsuit filed in Boston in 2021 by David and Ina Steiner, publishers of the EcommerceBytes newsletter. The couple became targets of a cyberstalking campaign that included the delivery of cockroaches, fly larvae, a bloody Halloween pig mask and other disturbing items, according to court records.
Under the agreement, eBay will pay $46.15 million directly to the Steiners, contribute $6 million to nonprofit organisations, and issue a strongly worded statement addressing the conduct of three former senior executives.
“We believe this resolution sends a clear message that corporations and their executives cannot engage in this type of misconduct without facing significant consequences,” the Steiners’ attorney, Christopher Murphy, said in a statement.
In its own statement, eBay said the treatment of the Steiners was “wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened.”
“We continue to extend our deepest apologies to the Steiners,” the company said. “This agreement is consistent with our commitment to fairly compensate the Steiners and fulfills our efforts to make things right.”
Seven former eBay employees previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the harassment campaign and received prison sentences of up to 57 months. Prosecutors said the group also travelled from California to Natick, Massachusetts, to surveil the Steiners and attempted to install a GPS tracking device on their vehicle.
According to prosecutors, the campaign was intended to silence the couple after senior company officials viewed their newsletter as overly critical of eBay. Court filings said former Chief Executive Officer Devin Wenig texted then Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer in August 2019 that it was time to “take her down,” referring to Ina Steiner.
Although Wenig was never criminally charged and has denied any involvement in the harassment, he agreed under the settlement to pay the Steiners $2 million and donate $1 million to a charity supporting First Amendment rights in Ina Steiner’s name.
“No one should ever have been subjected to what the Steiners endured in 2019, and I’m saddened by it, especially because it occurred during my time as CEO of eBay,” Wenig said in a statement.
Former Senior Vice President of Global Operations Wendy Jones agreed to pay $500,000, while former communications chief Steve Wymer will pay $50,000, according to the Steiners’ legal team. Additional settlements were also reached with the remaining former employees named in the lawsuit.
In 2024, eBay separately agreed to pay a $3 million criminal fine after the company itself was charged over the conduct.
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