eBay Reaches $55.7 Million Settlement in Cyberstalking Case
eBay and three former executives have agreed to pay $55.7 million to settle a lawsuit with a Massachusetts couple who were subjected to a bizarre harassment and cyberstalking campaign in 2019.
eBay and three former senior executives will pay $55.7 million as part of a settlement with David and Ina Steiner, a Massachusetts couple who were targeted with a strange and disturbing harassment and cyberstalking campaign in 2019 carried out by former employees.
The Steiners, who operate the EcommerceBytes newsletter, filed a lawsuit in 2021 against eBay and its former executives, including ex-CEO Devin Wenig. The lawsuit alleged that the company and its executives launched a coordinated effort to "intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence" the Steiners in an attempt to "stifle" their eBay-related reporting.
The campaign included sending live insects, a bloody pig mask, a funeral wreath, and other odd items to the couple. The Department of Justice charged seven former eBay employees in connection with the harassment in 2020, all of whom have been convicted. In 2024, eBay agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty related to the case. Wenig was not charged and claims he had no knowledge of the harassment.
The settlement includes $46.15 million from eBay, $2 million from Wenig, $500,000 from former global operations SVP Wendy Jones, and $50,000 from former chief communications officer Steve Wymer. eBay will also donate $6 million to nonprofit organizations.
"As we have long stated, what the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened," eBay said in a statement. "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."
