eBay and three former executives have agreed to pay roughly $55.7 million to settle a civil lawsuit filed by a Massachusetts couple who were targeted in a 2019 cyberstalking and harassment campaign by company employees.
Under the deal announced this week, David and Ina Steiner, founders of the e-commerce news site EcommerceBytes, will receive $48.7 million in compensation. eBay will contribute $46.15 million, former CEO Devin Wenig will pay $2 million, former Senior Vice President of Global Operations Wendy Jones will pay $500,000, and former Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer will pay $50,000. An additional $7 million will go toward charitable contributions, including $6 million from eBay and $1 million from Wenig to a First Amendment organization in Ina Steiner’s name.
The settlement contains no confidentiality clause, allowing the Steiners to discuss the case publicly.
“This case was always about more than obtaining financial recovery,” said Christopher Murphy of Scalli Murphy Law, which represented the couple. “From the beginning, our clients wanted to uncover the truth, protect journalists and publishers, hold those responsible accountable, deter future corporate misconduct, and help ensure others would never have to endure what they experienced.”
The Steiners, based in Natick, Massachusetts, publish a newsletter covering online marketplaces that is widely read by sellers. In 2019, eBay executives grew frustrated with the site’s critical coverage. Internal messages later made public showed Wenig writing that it was time to “take her down,” while Wymer stated he wanted to “see ashes” and would do “whatever it takes.”
That summer, members of eBay’s security team, led by then-Senior Director of Safety and Security James Baugh, carried out a campaign that included flooding the couple’s email with unwanted subscriptions, sending threatening social media messages from fake accounts, and arranging a series of disturbing deliveries to their home. Those packages contained live cockroaches and spiders, a preserved fetal pig, a bloody pig-face Halloween mask, a funeral wreath, and a book about surviving the death of a spouse. Pornographic magazines addressed to David Steiner were also mailed to neighbors.
In mid-August 2019, Baugh and others traveled from California to Massachusetts, where they surveilled the couple and attempted to place a GPS tracker on their car. The Steiners noticed the activity, recorded a license plate, and contacted police, which helped expose the operation.
Seven former eBay employees pleaded guilty to related federal charges. Baugh was sentenced to 57 months in prison. In 2024, eBay paid a $3 million criminal penalty under a deferred prosecution agreement and admitted the underlying facts.
Wenig, Wymer, and Jones were not charged criminally. Wenig has said he had no knowledge of the specific tactics used.
In a statement accompanying the civil settlement, eBay said the conduct by former employees “was wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened,” condemned those who pleaded guilty, acknowledged the tone of certain internal communications, and extended apologies to the Steiners. The company said the events do not reflect its current culture and that it has strengthened compliance measures since 2019.
The Steiners filed their civil lawsuit in 2021. After years of litigation and a near-trial, the parties reached the final agreement this week.
