eBay Inc. has agreed to pay nearly $50 million to a Massachusetts couple who endured a campaign of threats and bizarre anonymous deliveries, including live insects, a funeral wreath, and a bloody pig Halloween mask, orchestrated by former employees of the company.
The settlement, details of which were released Tuesday, resolves a protracted legal battle stemming from the harassment.
The agreement with David and Ina Steiner, founders of EcommerceBytes, a newsletter covering the e-commerce industry, includes an additional $7 million in charitable donations, with funds directed to organizations supporting First Amendment rights. Attorney Christopher Murphy, representing the Steiners, said the resolution serves as "a warning that attempts by big business to suppress speech and the press will not be tolerated."
Murphy, of Massachusetts-based Scalli Murphy Law, said, "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."
The settlement contains no confidentiality provision, allowing the Steiners to speak openly about their ordeal, a condition their attorney said his clients insisted upon.
This resolution concludes more than six years of criminal and civil proceedings. In their 2021 lawsuit filed in Boston federal court, the Natick residents alleged that eBay engaged in a conspiracy to "intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them" to "stifle their reporting on eBay." They reported experiencing cyberstalking, death threats, and in-person surveillance by former eBay workers.
The settlement also mandates that eBay issue a public statement addressing the conduct of former executives involved in the case.
The company reiterated its apology Tuesday, stating, "What the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened."
eBay also acknowledged "the unprofessional tone in internal communications" by former CEO Devin Wenig, former Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer, and former Senior Vice President Wendy Jones.
The company asserted that the conduct "is not representative of eBay’s culture" and highlighted changes in leadership, strengthened policies, procedures, and ethics training since the incidents.
In 2020, federal prosecutors charged seven former eBay employees, alleging they carried out a coordinated harassment campaign after becoming angered by the couple’s online newsletter coverage. Most defendants pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy and cyberstalking, subsequently receiving prison terms or home confinement. In 2024, eBay Inc. itself agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty under a deferred prosecution agreement with federal authorities.
Federal prosecutors detailed the harassment, which included anonymous deliveries of items like live cockroaches and spiders, a funeral wreath, and a bloody pig face mask to the couple’s home. The 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.
Under the settlement, the Steiners will receive $48.7 million in compensation, including $46.15 million from eBay, $2 million from former CEO Wenig, $500,000 from former executive Jones and $50,000 from former executive Wymer.
The company will fund $6 million in charitable contributions to various nonprofit organizations, with Wenig contributing an additional $1 million to a charity dedicated to protecting First Amendment rights in Ina Steiner's name.
Murphy cited the substantial recovery amount, personal payments by former executives, the $7 million commitment to nonprofits, and the absence of a confidentiality provision as crucial elements.
He noted that in many cases, "wrongdoers too often hide their misdeeds by dangling compensation in front of those they victimized and trading that compensation for confidentiality or an NDA."
He concluded, "We believe this resolution sends a clear message that corporations and their executives cannot engage in this type of misconduct without facing significant consequences."
