eBay settles for nearly $56M after former employees terrorize couple

E-commerce giant eBay has settled with a Massachusetts couple over a lawsuit involving an alleged harassment campaign that included stalking, threats and the mailing of live cockroaches and spiders, a bloody pig mask and a funeral wreath.

David and Ina Steiner, founders of EcommerceBytes, a trade publication in which the couple report on various e-commerce companies, including eBay, "in an effort to assist e-commerce sellers," filed a lawsuit on July 21, 2021, in a federal court in Massachusetts. Scalli Murphy Law, P.C., which represented the Steiners, announced the nearly $56 million settlement on its website July 27.

“David and I were on the same page that this settlement should and must be made public – as victims who want to prevent something like this from ever happening to anyone else, and as reporters who believe in transparency,” Ina Steiner told The Associated Press. “We hope that this case will serve as a deterrent.”

The settlement ends six years of litigation during which the Steiners alleged employees at eBay began targeting them in 2019 after they published "negative coverage" of the e-commerce company and "the upper echelons ofthe corporation," according to the lawsuit obtained by USA TODAY.

Under the settlement agreement, the couple will receive $48.7 million in compensation, which includes $46.15 million from eBay and $2,550,000 from former eBay executives. The remaining roughly $7 million of the settlement will go toward nonprofit organizations and a "charity dedicated to protecting First Amendment rights in the name of Ina Steiner."

USA TODAY contacted the Steiners' attorneys for comment July 29.

Tentative agreement was announced in February

The agreement announced July 27 follows an earlier tentative settlement in February that ultimately fell apart before the parties reached a revised deal this month, AP News reported.

David Steiner told the MetroWest Daily News the couple had hoped to take the case to trial but decided against prolonging the litigation for several more years through likely appeals. The couple would then ask a federal judge in June to restore the case to the trial calendar, ultimately reaching the new settlement in July.

eBay, employees initially faced criminal charges

In 2020, the Justice Department, through the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, indicted former eBay employees and a former eBay contractor on accusations of running the "terror campaign." Each defendant would ultimately plead guilty to multiple charges, including conspiracy and cyberstalking, before receiving prison sentences or home confinement.

Criminal charges also were brought against eBay in 2024; however, the company agreed to pay the maximum available criminal fine of $3 million and undertake serious corrective action.

The campaign by the now-former eBay employees began with threatening messages on social media and "vulgar emails" before escalating into deliveries of live insects, a bloody pig mask, pornography, a funeral wreath and a book about surviving the death of a spouse. Prosecutors said employees also posted fake Craigslist ads using the couple's home address, sent explicit magazines to neighbors, conducted in-person surveillance, and discussed installing a GPS tracker on the Steiners' vehicle.

The Steiners sued eBay and the defendants in 2021, accusing the company of conspiring to intimidate and silence them because of their journalism. During the civil case, the couple gained access to roughly 68,000 internal documents, which Ina Steiner said helped them better understand how the campaign unfolded.

eBay apologizes as case comes to a close

When the Steiners filed their lawsuit in 2021, eBay said that “the misconduct of these former employees was wrong” and that it would “do what is fair and appropriate” to try to address what the Steiners went through.

In a new statement July 28, the company echoed similar sentiments, apologizing for what happened and calling the conduct of its former employees "wrong" and "reprehensible." The company also acknowledged the "unprofessional tone" of internal communications by former executives, saying that the behavior does not reflect its current culture and that it has since changed leadership and strengthened ethics policies.

The Steiners said they hope the resolution protects journalists and discourages corporations from using intimidation to silence critical reporting.

"I think we accomplished a lot," David Steiner told MetroWest Daily News. "I look forward to having, with whatever time I have left on this planet, fun with life, doing the things we enjoy to do."

Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at [email protected] or on X @athompsonUSAT.