Items sent to the couple included pornography, a bloody pig mask, pests such as fly larvae, live spiders and cockroaches, a book about grieving a spouse and a funeral wreath.

Ebay has been ordered to pay a $55.7m settlement to an American couple over a harassment campaign by company executives which included doxing, online threats and the delivery of live cockroaches to their home.

The orchestrated campaign, which lasted for two months in the summer of 2019, was waged against husband and wife David and Ina Steiner by six eBay employees and one contractor.

The couple were targeted after posting criticism of eBay’s corporate and policy changes on their newsletter and website EcommerceBytes, which is popular among eBay sellers, Wired reported.

The campaign began with anonymous threats via Twitter DMs before ramping up to malicious deliveries to the Steiner family home.

Items sent to the couple included pornography, a bloody pig mask, pests such as fly larvae, live spiders and cockroaches, a book about grieving a spouse and a funeral wreath.

Ebay employees had the Steiners trailed in a rented van and posted fake classified ads on Craigslist advertising a swinger party, a threesome and a yard sale with their home address.

After the police were contacted, the harassment campaign tailed off as those involved sought to conceal their actions.

Former eBay CEO Devin Wenig told Wired via a representative that he was “saddened” by the harassment. He has continually asserted that he had no knowledge of the specific actions taken by the group who carried out the campaign.

Wenig is alleged to have given former eBay chief communications officer Steve Wymer the order to “take her down,” in reference to Ina Steiner. However, his lawyers claim he was referring to a communications plan and not any criminal behaviour, a claim supported by court documents according to Wired.

Six former eBay staff and a contractor were charged with taking part in the campaign in 2020. The Steiners followed with a civil suit the following year. The case has now reached a final settlement which will award the Steiners more than $46.15m from eBay, $2m from former CEO Devin Wenig, $500,000 from former executive Wendy Jones, and $50,000 from former executive Steve Wymer.

David Steiner told Wired: “We were really adamant that this type of behaviour by a Fortune 500 corporation didn’t go unchecked.”

In a published statement, eBay said that what the Steiners were subjected to was “wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened,” and that the company had strengthened its policies, controls and training since the incident.

From Novara Media via This RSS Feed.