BOSTON (AP) 鈥� eBay Inc. agreed to pay almost $50 million to a Massachusetts couple who said former employees of the company and bizarre anonymous deliveries 鈥� including live insects, a funeral wreath and a bloody pig Halloween mask, according to settlement details released Tuesday.
The parties reached a as the case was headed to trial, but they were unable to finalize the agreement. The Steiners asked a federal judge in June to reopen the case, and a new settlement announced Tuesday resolves the litigation.
The agreement with David and Ina Steiner, founders of EcommerceBytes, a newsletter covering the e-commerce industry, includes an additional $7 million in charitable donations, including to organizations supporting First Amendment rights. Attorney Christopher Murphy said the resolution sends 鈥渁 warning that attempts by big business to suppress speech and the press will not be tolerated.鈥�
鈥淭his was not only an attack and campaign of harassment against two people; it was also an attack on free speech and freedom of the press,” said Murphy, of Massachusetts-based Scalli Murphy Law.
The settlement contains no confidentiality provision, allowing the Steiners to discuss the case publicly. Murphy said his clients insisted on being able to speak openly about what happened to them.
The settlement resolves stemming from the harassment campaign. In their 2021 , the Steiners said that the company engaged in a conspiracy to 鈥渋ntimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them鈥� in order to 鈥渟tifle their reporting on eBay.鈥� The Natick residents, who report on the e-commerce industry in their newsletter, said they were subjected to cyberstalking, death threats and in-person surveillance by former eBay workers.
The settlement also requires eBay to issue a public statement addressing the conduct of former executives involved in the case.
When the lawsuit was filed, the company said 鈥渢he misconduct of these former employees was wrong,鈥� and that it would 鈥渄o what is fair and appropriate to try to address what the Steiners went through.鈥�
eBay reiterated its apology Tuesday, saying, 鈥淲hat the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened.鈥� The company also acknowledged 鈥渢he unprofessional tone in internal communications鈥� by former CEO Devin Wenig, former Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer and former Senior Vice President Wendy Jones.
The company said the conduct 鈥渋s not representative of eBay鈥檚 culture鈥� and said it has since changed leadership and strengthened its policies, procedures and ethics training.
In 2020, federal prosecutors seven former eBay employees, alleging they carried out a coordinated harassment campaign against the couple after becoming angered by coverage in the couple鈥檚 online newsletter. Most of the defendants pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy and cyberstalking and were later sentenced to prison terms or home confinement.
In 2024, eBay Inc. agreed to pay a under a deferred prosecution agreement with federal authorities.
Federal prosecutors have said the harassment included anonymous deliveries of items like live cockroaches and spiders, a funeral wreath, and a bloody pig face mask to the couple鈥檚 home. The employees also sent pornographic magazines with the husband鈥檚 name on them to a neighbor鈥檚 home and planned to break into the couple鈥檚 garage to install a GPS device on their car.
Under the settlement, the Steiners will receive $48.7 million in compensation, including $46.15 million from eBay, $2 million from former CEO Wenig, $500,000 from former executive Jones and $50,000 from former executive Wymer.
The company will fund $6 million in charitable contributions to various nonprofit organizations, with Wenig contributing an additional $1 million to a charity dedicated to protecting First Amendment rights in Ina Steiner’s name.
In a statement, Murphy cited the recovery amount, personal payments by former executives, a commitment for $7 million to go to nonprofits and the absence of a confidentiality provision in a system where 鈥渨rongdoers too often hide their misdeeds by dangling compensation in front of those they victimized and trading that compensation for confidentiality or an NDA.鈥�
Protecting journalists and publishers and deterring corporate misconduct were goals from the beginning, he said. “We believe this resolution sends a clear message that corporations and their executives cannot engage in this type of misconduct without facing significant consequences,” Murphy said.
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