eBay’s cyberstalking case ends in $56M settlement
▼ Summary
– eBay and three former executives will pay $55.7 million to settle a lawsuit with a Massachusetts couple targeted in a 2019 harassment and cyberstalking campaign.
– The couple, David and Ina Steiner, were sent live insects, a bloody pig mask, and a funeral wreath after their newsletter criticized eBay.
– The Steiners sued eBay and former executives in 2021, alleging a coordinated effort to intimidate and silence their reporting.
– Seven former eBay employees were charged by the Department of Justice in 2020 and have been convicted; eBay paid a $3 million criminal penalty in 2024.
– The settlement includes $46.15 million from eBay, $2 million from ex-CEO Devin Wenig, and smaller amounts from other former executives, plus a $6 million donation to nonprofits.
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 the targets of a disturbing harassment and cyberstalking campaign in 2019. The settlement, first reported by CNBC, brings a close to a legal saga that exposed a shocking abuse of corporate power.
The victims, David and Ina Steiner, run the EcommerceBytes newsletter, which had drawn the ire of eBay’s leadership for its critical coverage of the company. In response, former executives orchestrated a campaign that included sending the Steiners live insects, a bloody pig mask, a funeral wreath, and other menacing items. The Steiners filed their lawsuit in 2021, alleging that eBay and its former executives, including ex-CEO Devin Wenig, engaged in a coordinated effort to “intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence” them in an attempt to suppress their reporting.
The U. S. Department of Justice had already charged seven former eBay employees in connection with the harassment campaign in 2020, and all have since been convicted. In 2024, eBay separately agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty related to the case.
“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 said in a statement. “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.”
The settlement breaks down as follows: $46.15 million will come from eBay itself, while Wenig will pay $2 million, former global operations SVP Wendy Jones will pay $500,000, and former chief communications officer Steve Wymer will pay $50,000. Additionally, eBay has pledged $6 million in donations to nonprofit organizations as part of the agreement.
(Source: The Verge)
