EBay and three former high executives have agreed to pay $55.7 million to resolve a lawsuit by a Massachusetts couple who fell sufferer to a weird stalking and harassment marketing campaign carried out by a number of of its workers in retaliation for his or her protection of the e-commerce firm in a publication they publish.
David and Ina Steiner introduced the settlement late on Monday, bringing an finish to a case they filed in 2021 in Boston federal court docket after a number of former eBay workers had been prosecuted for concentrating on them in a cyber-stalking marketing campaign that concerned sending the couple cockroaches, fly larvae and a bloody Halloween pig masks.
As a part of the settlement, eBay agreed to pay $46.15 million to the couple; fund $6 million in charitable contributions to nonprofit organizations; and difficulty a “strongly-worded” assertion in regards to the conduct of three of its high former executives.
“We believe this resolution sends a clear message that corporations and their executives cannot engage in this type of misconduct without facing significant consequences,” Christopher Murphy, the Steiners’ lawyer, mentioned in a press release.
EBay mentioned in a press release that what occurred to the Steiners was “wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened.”
“We continue to extend our deepest apologies to the Steiners,” the corporate mentioned. “This agreement is consistent with our commitment to fairly compensate the Steiners and fulfills our efforts to make things right.”
Seven former eBay employees pleaded guilty and obtained sentences of as excessive as 57 months in jail for taking part within the scheme, which additionally concerned a number of of them touring from California to Natick, Massachusetts, to surveil the Steiners and check out to set up a GPS monitoring system on their automotive.
Prosecutors have mentioned that the goal was to silence them after senior executives deemed their publication, EcommerceBytes, essential of the corporate. The marketing campaign started after then-CEO Devin Wenig in August 2019 texted Steve Wymer, then its chief communications officer, that it was time to “take her down,” referring to Ina Steiner, in accordance to prosecutors and the Steiners.
EBay itself was criminally charged and agreed in 2024 to pay a $3 million superb.
Wenig, a former Thomson Reuters govt who stepped down as eBay’s CEO in September 2019, was by no means charged. His legal professionals have argued he had no information or involvement within the harassment marketing campaign and that his messages had been advocating for a public relations technique to deal with Ina Steiner’s reporting.
As a part of the settlement, the Steiners’ attorneys mentioned Wenig will pay them $2 million and make a $1 million donation to a charity targeted on defending First Amendment rights within the identify of Ina Steiner.
“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 mentioned in a press release on Tuesday. “This behavior is antithetical to everything I stand for and believe in.”
Wendy Jones, who beforehand served as senior vice chairman of world operations, and Wymer will pay the couple $500,000 and $50,000, respectively, the plaintiffs say. Their legal professionals didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The Steiners’ legal professionals mentioned further settlements had been reached with different with all different eBay workers named of their lawsuit.