eBay has agreed to pay David and Ina Steiner nearly £37.5 million after former company employees threatened and targeted them with deliveries including insects and a bloody pig Halloween mask. The settlement, reached as the case headed toward trial, includes an additional £5.27 million in charitable donations.
Harassment campaign details
The Steiners, founders of the e-commerce newsletter EcommerceBytes, said they were subjected to cyberstalking, death threats, and in-person surveillance by former eBay workers. The harassment included anonymous deliveries of live cockroaches and spiders, a funeral wreath, and a bloody pig face mask to their home. Employees also sent pornographic magazines with the husband's name to a neighbor's home and planned to break into the couple's garage to install a GPS device on their car.
Legal proceedings and settlement
In their 2021 lawsuit filed in a Boston court, the Steiners alleged the company engaged in a conspiracy to "intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them" to "stifle their reporting on eBay." The settlement resolves more than six years of criminal and civil proceedings. It requires eBay to issue a public statement addressing the conduct of former executives involved in the case.
Lawyer Christopher Murphy said the resolution sends "a warning that attempts by big business to suppress speech and the press will not be tolerated." He added, "This was not only an attack and campaign of harassment against two people; it was also an attack on free speech and freedom of the press." Murphy noted that his clients insisted on being able to speak openly about what happened.
Company response and criminal charges
eBay reiterated its apology, saying, "What the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened." The company also accepted "the unprofessional tone in internal communications" by former CEO Devin Wenig, former Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer, and former Senior Vice President Wendy Jones. eBay said the conduct "is not representative of eBay's culture" and has since changed leadership and strengthened policies, procedures, and ethics training.
In 2020, prosecutors charged seven former eBay employees, alleging they carried out a coordinated harassment campaign after becoming angered by coverage in the Steiners' newsletter. Most pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy and cyberstalking and were sentenced to prison terms or home confinement. In 2024, eBay Inc. agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty under a deferred prosecution agreement.
Murphy cited the payout and the absence of a confidentiality provision, stating that "wrongdoers too often hide their misdeeds by dangling compensation in front of those they victimised and trading that compensation for confidentiality." He added, "We believe this resolution sends a clear message that corporations and their executives cannot engage in this type of misconduct without facing significant consequences."
