California-based online swapping-post concern eBay has agreed to a $3 million fine for the terror campaign its executives and employees waged against a Natick couple who ran an online news site that published items the company didn’t like, the US Attorney’s office in Boston reports.
The fine is for the criminal charges the company faced in a new filing in US District Court in Boston today: Two counts of stalking through interstate travel, two counts of stalking through electronic communications services, one count of witness tampering and one count of obstruction of justice.
Separately, Ina and David Steiner have their own civil suit against the concern, which in 2019 launched a campaign that included sending them live cockroaches and spiders, a fetal pig, pizzas and a bloody-pig-face mask, sending pornographic magazines in David Steiner’s name, posting bogus Craigslist ads for sexual events at their home and attempting to torment the couple through Twitter postings and direct messages. The items were purchased through Amazon and other online purveyors of such things.
In addition to all this, an eBay goon squad flew to Boston and attempted to harass and monitor the couple, in part by placing a GPS device on their car – all orchestrated from a Boston hotel where one executive listened to a Natick police channel to warn his fellow corporate thugs if police seemed to be on the way. Later, they lied to a Natick police detective, whom they derided as a stupid hick, only he proved to play a key role in their undoing when he went to the FBI for help.
Several of the executives and employees were arrested and convicted on federal charges. One executive, security head Jim Baugh, got nearly five years in prison. The company’s CEO at the time, Devin Wenig, was referenced, but not by name, in federal charging documents. He was never charged, but did lose his job. In addition to Baugh, former head of security, the convicted eBay minions are:
David Harville, former Director of Global Resiliency, who was sentenced to 24 months in prison in September 2022; Stephanie Popp, former Senior Manager of Global Intelligence, who was sentenced to 12 months in prison in October 2022; Philip Cooke, a former Senior Manager of Security Operations, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison and 12 months of home confinement in July 2021; Stephanie Stockwell and Veronica Zea, a former Manager of Global Intelligence and a contract intelligence analyst, respectively, who were each sentenced to one year in home confinement in October and November 2022. Brian Gilbert, a former Senior Manager of Security Operations, has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
Complete federal “information” against eBay (2.4M PDF).
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