Ebay will pay a fine of $3 million to resolve criminal charges that the company’s security service harassed a couple in Massachusetts for criticizing the platform on its website.
According to an agreement on the deferment of judicial persecution, Ebay acknowledges the actions of six former employees and a contractor, each of whom previously pleaded guilty to physical persecution and cybercreation of the Kho and David Steiners. The Steiners, who became co-founders of Ecommercebytes in 1999, a platform reporting and analyzing E-commerce, including Ebay, received backlash from Ebay leaders for shedding light on certain events. This led to an attempt to silence criticism by pressuring the Steiners.
The US Department of Justice subsequently charged Ebay with:
- 2 counts of persecution when crossing state borders;
- 2 counts of persecution through electronic communications services;
- 1 count of witness bribery;
- 1 count of obstructing justice.
In addition to the $3 million fine, which is the maximum penalty for the six criminal offenses, Ebay will be required to appoint an independent corporate observer to ensure compliance with requirements and make improvements to its compliance program. Meanwhile, the Steiners are seeking compensation for damages through a private process that is still ongoing.
Since August 2019, the former chief safety director of Ebay, along with six colleagues, pursued the Steiners for their critique of Ebay. The employees sent threatening messages, delivered frightening objects to the Steiners’ house, and physically stalked them. The objects sent to the Steiners included a book on how to survive after the death of a spouse, porn subscriptions, a bloody pig mask, pig embryos, a funeral wreath, and live spiders and cockroaches.
According to data, the former Ebay employees also went to Natic and installed a GPS device on the Steiners’ car for tracking. They also posted an online ad seeking sexual partners and included the Steiners’ home address. When the Steiners reported the incidents to the police, the Chief Director provided false testimonies and deleted digital evidence related to the cybercrease campaign, in addition to falsifying records.
Six Ebay employees, along with their manager, were convicted of participating in these crimes:
- The director received 4 years and 9 months in prison;
- The first employee was sentenced to 2 years in prison;
- The second employee received 1 year in prison;
- The third employee received 1.5 years in prison and