An investigation of the case of eBay: stalking, witness tampering and obstruction of justice involving seven employees, contractors, and the Steiners’ home

The Justice Department charged eBay with stalking, witness tampering and obstruction of justice after seven employees and contractors were convicted of felony charges for their roles in the scheme.

“The company’s conduct in 2019 was wrong and reprehensible,” eBay CEO Jamie Iannone said in a said in a statement on Thursday. “Since these events occurred, new leaders have joined the company and eBay has strengthened its policies, procedures, controls and training. eBay is committed to making things right and keeping high standards of conduct and ethics.

As part of the deferred prosecution agreement, the DOJ is requiring that eBay retain a corporate compliance monitor for three years and “make extensive enhancements to its compliance program.” eBay responded to the agreement in a post on its website, writing it “takes responsibility for the misconduct of its former employees.”

The lawsuit was filed against eBay and Wenig. A trial date will be set in March.

eBay employees also sent to the Steiners’ home live spiders and cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a fetal pig and a book about surviving the loss of a spouse.

The executives and other employees proceeded to carry out an intimidation campaign that included: Creating Twitter accounts under false names and using them to send threatening private DMs to Ina; publicly posting the Steiners’ home address and encouraging strangers to visit their home for sexual encounters and other activities; and installing a GPS device on the Steiners’ car.

EcommerceBytes’ reporting had become a source of frustration among eBay executives, according to court documents. After Ina wrote a story about eBay’s lawsuit accusing Amazon, the then-CEO of eBay sent another executive a message, saying “If we are ever going to take her down, now is the time.”