Deter website authors who wrote negative material about eBay
Target
Ina and David Steiner of EcommerceBytes
Convicted
7 eBay employees
The eBay stalking scandal was a campaign conducted in 2019 by eBay and contractors. The scandal involved the aggressive stalking and harassment of two e-commerce bloggers, Ina and David Steiner, who wrote frequent commentary about eBay on their website EcommerceBytes.[1][2] Seven eBay employees pleaded guilty to charges involving criminal conspiracies.[3][4] The seven employees included two senior members of eBay’s corporate security team.[5] Two members of eBay's Executive Leadership Team who were implicated in the scandal were not charged.[1]
Background
EcommerceBytes
EcommerceBytes is an online newsletter and e-commerce trade publication founded in 1999, four years after eBay was founded. Initially called AuctionBytes, the website offered advice to buyers in the early days of internet commerce. In the years after its founding, the website became a resource for sellers on a number of platforms, from Etsy to Amazon, a kind of trade publication for anyone whose business is selling items online. It is read primarily by sellers, but also by some corporate staff, including some who posted comments on their website.[6] The website not only offers advice, but also critiques of the corporate and policy changes at eBay and other e-commerce platforms.[6] For example, in April 2019, Ina Steiner reported there that eBay's then-CEO Devin Wenig was paid 152 times more than the typical eBay employee.[6]
Activist investor requests changes
In January 2019, Elliott Management, an activist hedge fund,[6] purchased a significant investment in eBay. They sent a letter to its board of directors requesting changes, such as replacing the CEO,[6] saying that eBay "as a public-company investment has underperformed both its peers and the market for a prolonged period of time." This was interpreted as placing additional demands on eBay management to produce results, leading to an atmosphere of heightened stress throughout the company.[7][1]
Stalking and harassment
Members of eBay's executive leadership had long been bothered by the couple's posts. Under pressure in early 2019 to enhance performance, the company felt a new sense of urgency. For example, in April 2019, eBay’s chief communications officer at the time, Steve Wymer, sent Wenig a post about how outsized Wenig's compensation was compared to typical employees, adding "we are going to crush this lady." One month later Wenig texted Wymer "Take her down."[6] Wymer allegedly took the concerns to the head of eBay's security division, Jim Baugh, whose team began harassing the Steiners at home and online.[6] Wymer texted Baugh that Ina Steiner was a "biased troll who needs to be BURNED DOWN"; that he wanted "to see ashes"; and that Baugh should do "whatever it takes."[8][9]
The Steiners were harassed and threatened both online and physically in their home by deliveries of such things as a bloody pig mask, live cockroaches and spiders, a funeral wreath, and large orders of pizza.[5][1][6] Pornographic magazines with David Steiner’s name on them were sent to a neighbor’s house.[5][1][6]
Employees flew from California to Boston so they could vandalize the couple's Natick, Massachusetts home as well as stalk their personal vehicle.[1][6] Plans were even made to break into the couple's garage and place a GPS tracker on their car.[1]
EcommerceBytes was not the only source of criticism; Wenig was also concerned about an anonymous persona named Fidomaster (also known as Dan Davis and unsuckEBAY) who frequently commented about eBay on Twitter, EcommerceBytes, and other online forums.[10]
The stalking and harassment campaign was designed to intimidate EcommerceBytes into changing their coverage of eBay, culminating in the "White Knight Strategy" which enlisted Brian Gilbert to pretend to come to the Steiners' aid in his official eBay capacity as an attempt to win goodwill and gain their help in unmasking the person behind the Fidomaster/unsuckEBAY account. [11]
Criminal charges
"This was a determined, systematic effort by senior employees of a major company to destroy the lives of a couple in Natick all because they published content that company executives didn’t like. For a while they succeeded, psychologically devastating these victims for weeks as they desperately tried to figure out what was going on and stop it."
In June 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice charged six former eBay employees and contractors with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses;[1] a seventh former employee was charged in July.[12] eBay itself was later charged.
James Baugh, eBay's Senior Director of Safety & Security plead guilty in April 2022.[4] and was sentenced to 57 months in prison.[13]
David Harville, eBay's former Director of Global Resiliency, plead guilty to his participation in the harassment in May 2022 and was sentenced to 24 months in prison.[13]
Stephanie Popp, eBay's Senior Manager of Global Intelligence plead guilty in October 2020.[14] and was sentenced to 13 months in prison.[13]
Stephanie Stockwell, eBay's Manager of Global Intelligence Center (GIC) plead guilty in October 2020[15] and was sentenced to 24 months of probation.[13]
Veronica Zea who served eBay as an independent contractor working as an intelligence analyst in the GIC, plead guilty in October 2020[14] and was sentenced two years probation including one year of home confinement.[16]
Brian Gilbert, a former police captain,[6] and Senior Manager of Special Operations for eBay's Global Security Team plead guilty in October 2020 [6][15] and was sentenced to one year of probation plus time served.[17]
Philip Cooke, a former police captain, and supervisor of eBay security operations,[18] plead guilty in October 2020[15] and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and 3 years of supervised release including one year of home confinement.[19]
eBay agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty as part of a deferred prosecution agreement related to six criminal charges in the matter.[20][21]
Civil lawsuit
In July 2021, Ina and David Steiner filed suit against eBay Inc.; former CEO Devin Wenig; former Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer; the seven defendants in the criminal case; and Progressive F.O.R.C.E. Concepts (PFC), an independent security firm.[22] eBay's former SVP Global Operations Wendy Jones and Progressive F.O.R.C.E Concepts' CEO Steve Krystek were also added to an amended version of the complaint on March 1, 2023.[10]
The lawsuit claims that Wenig and Wymer "provided the other Defendants with carte blanche authority to terminate the reporting of the Steiners by whatever means necessary, with Defendant Wymer expressing '... I want to see ashes. As long as it takes. Whatever it takes.' Defendant Wymer promised the defendants he would 'embrace managing any bad fallout' if the plan went south, further directing, 'We need to STOP her.' The lawsuit further claims that "All of the horrific, vicious and sickening conduct that followed was committed by employees of eBay and PFC, while acting in the scope of their employment under the authority of and for the benefit of eBay and PFC."[22]
The civil trial is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2025.[23]
Internal corporate investigation
After being contacted by law enforcement, eBay hired a law firm to investigate the harassment.[6] The investigation concluded in September 2019, and all of the people charged with crimes plus the chief communications officer Steve Wymer were fired.[6] The investigation found that neither Wenig nor Wymer "directed or knew that criminal acts would follow."[24] Wymer was hired the next year as the head of a local branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, a children's charity that knew about Wymer's involvement in the harassment scandal.[6][25][26]
The CEO Wenig's messages were deemed "inappropriate" by eBay, but eBay's internal investigation concluded that the CEO did not know about the stalking and harassment activities.[6] Wenig left eBay in September 2019, with a US$57 million severance package.[6] After the harassment scandal became news, Wenig was re-elected to the board of General Motors.[6]
^"2 former eBay employees indicted in harassment campaign". Associated Press. 2020-11-03. Archived from the original on 2021-12-28. Retrieved 2021-12-28. James Baugh, 45, who was eBay's senior director of safety & security, and David Harville, 48, former director of global resiliency, were indicted on charges including stalking through interstate travel. [...] Five other former employees have pleaded guilty in the case.
