Two former eBay executives have been sentenced to prison by a federal judge in California after they were found guilty of orchestrating an e-mail cyberstalking scheme that spread damaging information about their then-employer to thousands of employees and job applicants over the course of seven years, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of California.
For their role in a cyberstalking campaign that targeted a couple who wrote an e-commerce blog that was thought to be critical of the firm, two former eBay executives were sentenced to jail on Thursday.
The former senior director of safety and security at eBay, James Baugh, received a sentence of almost five years in jail, while David Harville, the former director of global resiliency, received a term of two years in prison. Both individuals admitted guilt in this instance.
In 2019, Baugh, Harville, and many other eBay officials launched an effort to harass Ina and David Steiner, the editor and publisher of eCommercebytes, a website that online merchants pay special attention to. According to the prosecution, the officials went after the couple because former eBay CEO Devin Wenig and other corporate executives were furious with their coverage of the business.
Prosecutors stated in a statement that what transpired was a weird and complex “three-part harassment campaign” that was meant to “intimidate” the Steiners and affect how they reported on the firm.
The couple received several insulting and threatening tweets from eBay executives. The campaign intensified when the Steiners started receiving “disturbing delivery” to their house outside of Boston, including live insects, a funeral wreath, a bloody pig mask, a foetal pig, a book on surviving the death of a spouse, and a bloody pig mask, according to the prosecution. Additionally, online Craigslist advertisements for sexual encounters with strangers at the victims’ homes started to surface.
To observe the Steiners, Baugh, Harville, and other others made the trip from California to their house. Prosecutors claim that they intended to implant a GPS tracker on the couple’s car, but when the garage was locked, Harville bought equipment to break in.
In this case, five other eBay workers have admitted to conspiring.
U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement that the defendants’ “toxic brand of online and offline harassment, threats, and stalking was outrageous, cruel, and defies any explanation — all the more given that these men were experienced and highly paid security executives supported by the resources of a Fortune 500 corporation.” “Their actions were abhorrent.”
In response to a request for comment, an eBay spokeswoman remained silent. Requests for feedback from Ina Steiner were not promptly fulfilled.
According to a Wenig representative, an independent inquiry revealed the previous CEO of eBay was unaware of the harassment campaign. The spokesman said that Devin never instructed anybody to engage in unethical or unlawful behaviour and that if he had been aware of it, he would have prevented it.
The case does not mention Wenig, who gave up his position as CEO in 2019. eBay, Wenig, and former senior vice president Steve Wymer are the targets of a second case the Steiners have filed. That case is still open.
Ina Steiner stated in a blog post published on Wednesday that “we feel everyone who had a role should be held accountable.”
