E-commerce company eBay has agreed to pay nearly $55 million to a journalist couple as part of a settlement for a harassment campaign orchestrated by former company executives. The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by David and Ina Steiner, who published an online newsletter called Ecommerce Bytes.
Under the terms of the settlement, the Steiners will receive $46.15 million from eBay, $2 million directly from former CEO Devin Wenig, and $550,000 from two other former top executives. Additionally, eBay and Wenig will collectively pay $7 million to charitable causes, bringing the total settlement amount to $55.7 million.
The lawsuit stemmed from what the Steiners' attorneys described as a "widely publicized 2019 cyberstalking and harassment campaign designed to stop their reporting." In early 2024, eBay was ordered to pay a separate $3 million fine after being federally prosecuted for the campaign. Prosecutors had demonstrated that eBay's senior management discussed ways to "take down" the Steiners and intended to put them through "pure hell."
The harassment campaign, which began in August 2019, involved disturbing and threatening deliveries to the couple's home in Natick, Massachusetts. These included a box of live cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a preserved fetal pig, and a bloody pig mask. The perpetrators also spied on the couple and engaged in other forms of intimidation, such as sending pornography to their neighbors and placing Craigslist ads inviting strangers to their home.
Federal prosecutors presented communications showing that then-CEO Devin Wenig sent messages to a fellow executive stating it was time to "take down" the couple. This executive then forwarded Wenig's message to James Baugh, eBay's then-senior director of safety and security, describing Ina Steiner as a "biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN."
Baugh was one of seven former eBay employees who pleaded guilty to charges related to the harassment. He was sentenced in 2022 to nearly five years in prison, while another former executive, David Harville, received a two-year sentence. Wenig was not criminally charged in the case.
Authorities traced the harassment back to eBay employees after the Steiners photographed a suspicious vehicle following them. The license plate led to a rental car booked under the name of Veronica Zea, who was staying at a hotel with David Harville. Both Zea and Harville were found to be employees of eBay, based in San Jose, California.
In a statement accompanying the settlement, eBay apologized to the Steiners and condemned the actions of its former executives. "What the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened," the company stated. "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." eBay also asserted that the 2019 conduct does not reflect the company's current culture, noting that new leadership and strengthened policies are in place.