eBay to pay nearly $50M after ex-employees allegedly terrorized couple with cockroach, fetal pig packages

eBay Inc. on Tuesday agreed to pay roughly $50 million to a Massachusetts couple after former employees were accused of terrorizing the pair of bloggers — sending packages containing live cockroaches and spiders, a preserved fetal pig, a funeral wreath, a bloody pig Halloween mask and a book about surviving the death of a spouse.

According to a 2021 lawsuit, the deliveries were part of a 2019 harassment campaign targeting David and Ina Steiner, who cover the e-commerce industry through their newsletter. 

The lawsuit alleged the employees became angered by the Steiners' reporting and conspired to "intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them." The couple said they were subjected to cyberstalking, death threats and in-person surveillance.

"We hope that the size of the settlement amount will act as a deterrent to any corporation that uses their resources to intimidate journalists into compliance simply because they don't agree with their coverage," the couple said in a statement to FOX Business.

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"I could not conceive that a company I had been covering for the past two decades had tried to terrorize us into stopping our reporting," Ina Steiner added, according to The Associated Press.

The lawsuit named former CEO Devin Wenig, former Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer and former Senior Vice President Wendy Jones, all of whom have since left the company but were not criminally charged. In 2020, federal prosecutors also charged six other former eBay employees and one contractor in connection with the scheme, all of whom ultimately pleaded guilty to their roles. 

The campaign reportedly lasted several weeks, beginning with threatening direct messages on social media before escalating into anonymous deliveries. 

According to the lawsuit, employees sent pornographic magazines addressed to David Steiner to a neighbor's home in an attempt to defame the couple within their community. They also tried to plant a GPS tracking device on the couple's vehicle, the suit said.

Ina Steiner said she did not initially know who was behind the harassment or why they had been targeted.  

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Under the settlement, the Steiners will receive $48.7 million in compensation, including about $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 also fund $6 million in charitable donations, while Wenig will contribute an additional $1 million to a charity dedicated to protecting First Amendment rights in Ina Steiner's name.

The Steiners told FOX Business that accountability from the three executives was necessary, especially after they expressed disappointment with the outcome of the federal investigation.

"It became apparent to us that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston was not going to indict any member of the executive team at eBay, and that it was up to us to hold the corporation and the three defendants accountable for their actions," the couple said in a statement.

The Steiners said they also prioritized a settlement with no confidentiality provision, allowing them to discuss the case publicly. 

"David and I were on the same page that this settlement should and must be made public — as victims who want to prevent something like this from ever happening to anyone else, and as reporters who believe in transparency," Ina Steiner told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "We hope that this case will serve as a deterrent."

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Tuesday's agreement follows a tentative settlement reached in February that ultimately fell apart, sending the case toward trial, according to The Associated Press. 

eBay, which previously apologized when the lawsuit was filed in 2021, again acknowledged "the unprofessional tone in internal communications" by former executives tied to the case. 

"What the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened," the company said in a statement Tuesday. "We condemn, in the strongest terms possible, the employees who perpetrated and pled guilty to criminal charges for the misconduct against Ina and David Steiner."

"We continue to extend our deepest apologies to the Steiners. This agreement is consistent with our commitment to fairly compensate the Steiners and fulfills our efforts to make things right."

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eBay added that it has since strengthened its policies, procedures and ethics training following the alleged misconduct. 

"The 2019 conduct is not representative of eBay’s culture or thousands of employees around the world today," the company said. "Since these events occurred, new leaders have joined the company and eBay has strengthened its policies, procedures, controls and training consistent with the company’s ongoing commitment to uphold high standards of conduct and ethics."

Wenig has continued to maintain that he had no knowledge of the harassment campaign and said he was saddened by what the Steiners endured, his representative told FOX Business.

"No one should ever have been subjected to what the Steiners endured in 2019, and I’m saddened by it, especially because it occurred during my time as CEO of eBay," Wenig said in a statement provided by his representative, Rudy Wong. "The harassment was deliberately done in secret and without my knowledge, as established by an independent law firm review, a federal probe, and the sworn testimony of the security employee convicted as the ‘ringleader.’ This behavior is antithetical to everything I stand for and believe in."  

In 2024, eBay also agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty after federal prosecutors charged the company in connection with the harassment campaign.