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E-commerce giant eBay has been ordered to pay $3 million in criminal penalties to Ina and David Steiner by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. for the actions of some former employees who “terrified” the couple.
“Today’s settlement means that eBay will face criminal and financial liability for threatening the publisher of an online newsletter mentally, psychologically, and physically for fear that bad publicity would negatively impact the Fortune 500 company.” “It shows that he is responsible for the crime,” said Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division. , Jodi Cohen on Thursday Reconciliation.
The Steiners founded a newsletter called EcommerceBytes. This newsletter reports on e-commerce platforms and sometimes criticizes companies like eBay. According to the original complaint filed in 2021, the Steiners accused eBay of harassment after former company executives were dissatisfied with the “tone and content” of the newsletter after they wrote an article critical of the company. It claimed that the campaign was launched both in-person and online.
Examples include receiving a package containing a bloody pig mask or a live insect, or a book titled “Grief Diary: Surviving the Loss of a Spouse” sent to David Steiner. included.
Related: eBay executives sued over alleged death threats
Other complaints allege that a former eBay employee planned to break into Steiners’ garage and install a GPS tracker on his car.
The e-commerce giant said it “received a tip from law enforcement about suspicious activity by certain members of its security team” in 2019, before the Steiners formally filed a complaint and began an investigation.
Authorities have linked seven eBay employees named in the harassment campaign to the incident, including disgraced former chief communications officer Steve Weimer, after hearing that eBay has launched an internal investigation. They claim that they destroyed certain evidence that would have been used against them and “actively disclosed it.”
“The company’s actions in 2019 were wrong and reprehensible,” Jamie Iannone, CEO of eBay, said in a company release. “From the moment we first learned of the events of 2019, eBay cooperated fully and extensively with law enforcement. We remain deeply sorry for what the Steiners endured.”
Six of the former employees involved have already been sentenced to prison and home confinement, and former senior security operations manager Brian Gilbert is awaiting sentencing.
“Since these events occurred, new leadership has joined the company and eBay has strengthened its policies, procedures, controls, and training,” the release states. “eBay remains committed to high standards of conduct and ethics, and to righting our relationship with the Steiner family.”
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