eBay’s Twisted Plot To Terrorize A Couple With Live Spiders And Cockroaches

Live cockroaches and spiders. A preserved fetal pig. A bloody Halloween mask. A funeral wreath. A book about surviving the death of one’s spouse.

These items were all sent to the home of journalists David and Ina Steiner by executives of one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms. The packages were an attempt to scare them into silence and to stop reporting on the e-commerce company’s business practices.

The Steiners sued, and after over a decade in the courts, they have won their case.

On Tuesday, eBay agreed to pay the Massachusetts couple nearly $50 million after former employees terrorized the bloggers in a 2019 harassment campaign.

Since 2012, Ina Steiner, with her husband David’s help, has hosted the newsletter eCommerce Bytes, unveiling to readers important updates about services such as Amazon and eBay.

She has been critical of many of eBay’s corporate decisions, reporting in 2019 on issues such as former eBay CEO Devin Wenig earning 152 times more than normal employees.

In response, eBay employees reportedly became angered by the Steiners’ reporting and conspired to “intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them,” Fox News reports.

Some employees named in the lawsuit were former CEO Devin Wenig, former Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer, and former Senior Vice President Wendy Jones.

Along with sending anonymous packages with disturbing contents, employees sent pornographic magazines addressed to David Steiner to a neighbor’s home in an attempt to smear the image of the couple in their community.

The Steiners also received a host of threatening direct messages online. The lawsuit even alleged that eBay employees tried to plant a GPS tracking device on the couple’s vehicle.

In the settlement, the Steiners are slated to receive $48.7 million in compensation. This comprises $46.15 million from eBay itself, $2 million from Wenig, $500,000 from Jones, and $50,000 from Wymer.

The company will finance $6 million in donations to various nonprofits, and Wenig will pay $1 million to a charity committed to protecting First Amendment rights on Ina Steiner’s behalf.

eBay has posted a statement disavowing the actions of its former executives and employees.

“What the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible, and should never have happened,” eBay said in a statement. “We condemn, in the strongest terms possible, the employees who perpetrated and pled guilty to criminal charges for the misconduct against Ina and David Steiner. We also acknowledge the unprofessional tone in internal communications demonstrated, to different degrees and number, by Mr. Wenig, Mr. Wymer, and Ms. Jones.”

“We continue to extend our deepest apologies to the Steiners,” eBay added. “This agreement is consistent with our commitment to fairly compensate the Steiners and fulfills our efforts to make things right.”

The couple posted about their win on their eCommerce Bytes website and shared the testimony of their lawyer Chris Murphy.

“This case was always about more than obtaining financial recovery,” Murphy said in the statement. “From the beginning, our clients wanted to uncover the truth, protect journalists and publishers, hold those responsible accountable, deter future corporate misconduct, and help ensure others would never have to endure what they experienced.”

“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 added.

The Steiners are featured in the documentary “Whatever It Takes: Inside the eBay Scandal,” where they share their experiences being victims of the harassment campaign.