eBay to pay US$3 million after employees harassed couple, sent them spiders and cockroaches
- eBay employees were prosecuted in an extensive scheme to intimidate Massachusetts couple behind online newsletter
- Company accepted responsibility for the employees’ actions and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement
Online retailer eBay has agreed to pay US$3 million to resolve a US criminal probe into a campaign by several of its employees to stalk and harass a Massachusetts couple whose online newsletter was viewed as critical of the company.
Federal prosecutors in Boston said on Thursday that eBay had entered into a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve the case after seven former eBay workers admitted to participating in an extensive campaign in 2019 that involved sending the couple cockroaches, fly larvae and a bloody Halloween pig mask.
The victims were David and Ina Steiner, a married couple in Natick, Massachusetts, who produce the newsletter EcommerceBytes and have sued eBay over what they say was a relentless campaign by its employees to terrorise them.
The US$3 million fine represents the maximum penalty prosecutors said they could seek after charging eBay with six counts of stalking, obstruction of justice and witness tampering for what they called its “absolutely horrific” criminal conduct.
“The company’s employees and contractors involved in this campaign put the victims through pure hell, in a petrifying campaign aimed at silencing their reporting and protecting the eBay brand,” acting US Attorney Joshua Levy said in a statement.
The San Jose, California-based company admitted to facts about its conduct and agreed to retain an independent corporate compliance monitor for three years and must make changes to its compliance programme. Charges would be dropped after three years if it complies with the deal.
