eBay will pay millions of dollars for the former employees harassment campaign
The Steiners’ Home: Intimidation campaign against eBay by former employees, executives and contractors in a grand jury investigation of witness tampering
The Justice Department charged eBay with stalking, witness tampering and obstruction of justice after seven employees and contractors were convicted of felony charges for their roles in the scheme.
Jamie Iannone, eBay CEO, said that the company’s conduct was wrong and reprehensible. eBay cooperated with law enforcement authorities from the moment they learned of the events. eBay remains committed to upholding high standards of conduct and ethics and to making things right with the Steiners.”
eBay will have to make enhancements to its compliance program under the DOJ’s requirement as part of the deferred prosecution agreement. eBay took responsibility for the conduct of its former employees in a post on its website.
The Steiners filed a civil lawsuit last year against eBay, then-CEO Wenig and other former employees. A trial date is scheduled for March, according to the couple.
The eBay employees sent the live animals to the Steiner’s home as well as a book about surviving the loss of a spouse.
The executives and other employees proceeded to carry out an intimidation campaign that included: Creating Twitter accounts under false names and using them to send threatening private DMs to Ina; publicly posting the Steiners’ home address and encouraging strangers to visit their home for sexual encounters and other activities; and installing a GPS device on the Steiners’ car.
According to documents in the case, EcommerceBytes’ reporting was becoming a source of frustration for eBay executives. Soon after Ina wrote a story about eBay’s lawsuit accusing Amazon of poaching its sellers, eBay’s then-CEO, Devin Wenig, messaged another executive, saying: “If we are ever going to take her down..now is the time,” court records show.
