Josie Croce, Contributing Member 2023-2024
Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal
I. Introduction
In 2019, eBay’s executives led a targeted harassment campaign against David and Ina Steiner, the editor and publisher of the web-blog eCommerceBytes.[1] Aside from the criminal charges against the executives and employees involved in the harassment, Acting United States Attorney General Joshua Levy filed six charges against eBay Inc.: two counts of stalking through interstate travel, two counts of stalking through electronic communications services, one count of witness tampering; and one count of obstruction of justice.[2] In early January 2024, eBay Inc. entered into a deferred prosecution agreement in which the company will admit to its conduct, pay the statutory maximum fine of $3 million, and be monitored by an independent corporate compliance monitor for three years.[3] The Department of Justice framed this agreement as a sweeping punishment but, to the victims, these penalties were not nearly enough for the months of terror they suffered.
II. Background
David and Ina Steiner are the creators of eCommerceBytes, a website/blog which was launched in 1999 “to help regular people and small businesses succeed in selling online.” [4] They intended their blog to hold online selling platforms accountable with the mission that “when sellers succeed, so do the platforms on which they sell.”[5] In keeping with this mission, Ina Steiner has written many posts about eBay’s management, including blogs such as “eBay CEO Devin Wenig Earns 152 Times That of Employees” and “Did You Know eBay Built a Lavish NYC Pub Style Lounge?”[6] Posts like these caught the attention of eBay executives, who then directed other eBay employees to begin a widespread harassment of the Steiners.
eBay Executives and Employees Involved
The disdain for the Steiner’s website began at the top echelon of eBay: in particular, the Chief Executive Officer Devin Wenig (“Exec 1”), the Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer (“Exec 2”), and the Senior Vice President for Global Operations (‘Exec 3’).[7] Throughout the spring of 2019, these executives sent many messages to one another expressing their hatred towards the Steiners and their website.[8] Exec 1 said, “F*** [the Wall Street Journal]. The journal is next on the list after I[n]a.”[9] Exec 2 said that he wanted to “eff with” Ina Steiner and to “blow her site up.” Exec 3 once referred to Ina Steiner as a “cow,” to which Exec 2 responded, “Her day is coming…”[10]
Soon after, Jim Baugh—the Senior Director of Safety and Security—became involved in the scheme and reported to Exec 3. Below Baugh were David Harville (the Director of Global Resiliency), Stephanie Popp (the Senior Manager of Global Intelligence Center), Stephanie Stockwell and Veronica Zea (intelligence analysts), and Brian Gilbert and Phillip Cooke (security for eBay’s facilities, executives, and special events). All of these employees reported to Baugh and played a role in the directed harassment of the Steiners.
Details of the Harassment Campaign
In June 2019, Baugh directed eBay’s intelligence center to track Ina Steiner’s posts about eBay. A more formal plan of harassment was set in motion by the Execs on August 1st, after Ina Steiner posted an article about eBay’s RICO lawsuit against Amazon.[11] In the article, Ina criticized Exec 1 for using litigation to “dissuade sellers from turning to Amazon (and trying to get Amazon to stop recruiting sellers)” and to stop eBay’s declining sales.[12] About 30 minutes after Steiner posted this article, Exec 1 texted Exec 2, “Ina is out with a hot piece on the litigation. If we are ever going to take her down..now is the time,” to which Exec 2 responded, “On it.”[13] Exec 2 passed Exec 1’s message to Baugh, who said, “I have a plan B. I will put it in motion. Will take 2 weeks.”[14]
About a week later, Baugh confirmed the plan with Exec 2, asking, “If I can neutralize Ina’s website in two weeks or less, does that work for you?”[15] Exec 2 responded, “I want to see ashes. As long as it takes. Whatever it takes.”[16] Once Baugh received confirmation, he shared the messages/emails from Exec 2 and looped Harville, Gilbert, Popp, Stockwell, and Zea into the plan. It was this group of employees that carried out the bulk of the harassment campaign.
The harassment targeted the Steiners from all angles, including online, at the Steiners’ home, and through emotional manipulation. First, the eBay employees created Twitter accounts with ominous profile pictures and used these accounts to send threatening messages to Ina Steiner. These threatening messages continued for weeks. Further, the Steiners’ home address was posted on Twitter and Craigslist.[17]
At their home, the Steiners received a multitude of unwanted deliveries, including live spiders, fly larvae, live cockroaches, a Halloween pig mask, a book titled “Grief Diaries: Surviving Loss of a Spouse,” and a funeral wreath.[18] The eBay employees traveled to Natick, Massachusetts—the hometown of the Steiners—to stalk the Steiners. The employees drove past the Steiners’ home repeatedly and also followed David Steiner as he drove around town. Further, the employees attempted to install a GPS tracking device on the Steiners’ cars and later bought tools to break into their garage.[19]
After the repeated online attacks and at-home surveillance, the eBay employees emotionally manipulated the Steiners through a method the employees referred to as the “White Knight Strategy.” Gilbert called the Steiners, telling them that he was an eBay employee and offering to help them with the harassment.[20]
III. Discussion
eBay Employees Charged and Convicted, Executives Remain Unscathed
While the employees were harassing the Steiners, they were also working to conceal their conduct from local and federal authorities and eBay internal investigators by “using non-eBay electronic communications platforms, billing expenses related to the campaign to an outside contractor, monitoring law enforcement communications, forging records, lying to investigators, and destroying evidence.”[21] Despite these concealment efforts, investigators were eventually able to identify and charge the employees involved.
In 2022, Baugh was sentenced to 57 months in prison plus two years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a $40,000 fine.[22] Harville was sentenced to 2 years in prison plus two years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.[23] Stephanie Popp was sentenced to 12 months in prison, and Phillip Cooke was sentenced to 18 months in prison and 12 months of home confinement.[24] Stephanie Stockwell and Veronica Zea were each sentenced to one year in home confinement, and Brian Gilbert is awaiting his sentence.[25]
Despite criminal punishments for the employees, the three executives emerged unscathed. Exec 1, Devin Wenig, stepped down from his position as CEO in 2019 but was not criminally charged and denies knowledge of the harassment campaign.[26] Exec 2, Steve Wymer, was fired from his position as Chief Communications Officer in September of 2019 but was never criminally charged.[27] Exec 3, Wendy Jones, stepped down from her position as Senior Vice President of Global Operations in November of 2020 and was also never criminally charged.[28]
Bidding for Justice
Acting U.S. Attorney Levy stated that:
“Today’s criminal resolution with the company imposes the maximum fine that the law allows under the statutes, holding eBay accountable for a corporate culture that led to this unprecedented stalking campaign. The corporate monitoring of eBay will be in place for the next three years and will ensure that eBay’s senior leadership sets a tone that makes compliance with the law paramount, implements safeguards to prevent future criminal activity, and makes clear to every eBay employee that the idea of terrorizing innocent people and obstructing investigations will not be tolerated.”[29]
Emphasized in this statement is that eBay is being held amenable for the targeted and unrelenting harassment of 2 of their users, as eBay faces “the maximum fine that the law allows.” Still, $3 million is a minor fine, considering eBay’s market cap value of $21.88 billion.[30]
There is a major difference between the DOJ’s statement and the victims’ statement; the latter seems to suggest that the DOJ did not conduct a thorough investigation and that justice has not yet prevailed. The Steiners’ victim statement explained that,
“In 2022, we were crushed when we learned the government had not interviewed the top executives at eBay as part of its criminal investigation. As victims of despicable crimes meant to destroy our lives and our livelihood, we felt it was vital to do everything in our power to make sure such a thing never happened to anyone else. eBay’s actions against us had a damaging and permanent impact on us – emotionally, psychologically, physically, reputationally, and financially – and we strongly pushed federal prosecutors for further indictments to deter corporate executives and board members from creating a culture where stalking and harassment is tolerated or encouraged.”[31]
To the Steiners, the prosecutor did not go far enough, especially in investigating the executives. The government’s indictment refers to the executives involved (‘Executive 1, 2 and 3’) and their positions at the company but never uses their names. Further, the indictment clearly shows the Executives’ roles in planting the seeds for this harassment campaign; the Exec 1 texted Exec 2, “If we are ever going to take her down..now is the time” to which Exec 2 replied “On it” before passing the message down the chain of command.[32] Hoping to hold eBay and its former executives accountable, the Steiners have filed a civil lawsuit with the trial date set for March 3, 2025.[33]
[1] Compl., United States of America v. eBay Inc., No. 1:24-cr-10003 (D. Mass. Jan 11, 2024).
[2] Press Release, Dep’t. of Justice, eBay Inc. to Pay $3 Million in Connection with Corporate Cyberstalking Campaign Targeting Massachusetts Couple (January 11, 2024) (on file with author).
[3] Id.
[4] Ina and David Steiner, Victim Impact Statement in United States of America vs. eBay Inc., eCommerceBytes Blog (January 11, 2024), https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2024/1/1704995745.html.
[5] Id.
[6] Ina Steiner, eBay CEO Devin Wenig Earns 152 Times That of Employees, eCommerceBytes Blog (April 10, 2019), https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2019/4/1554870735.html. Ina Steiner, Did You Know eBay Built a Lavish NYC Pub Style Lounge?, eCommerceBytes Blog (May 21, 2019), https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2019/5/1558448228.html.
[7] Compl., United States of America v. eBay Inc., supra note 1
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Ina Steiner, eBay RICO Lawsuit Meant to Curb Seller Exodus to Amazon?, eCommerceBytes Blog (August 1, 2019), https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2019/8/1564681600.html.
[13] Compl., United States of America v. eBay Inc., supra note 1
[14] Id.
[15] Id.
[16] Id.
[17] Id.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] Id.
[21] Id.
[22] Press Release, Dep’t. of Justice, Two Former eBay Executives Sentenced to Prison for Cyberstalking (September 29, 2022), https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/two-former-ebay-executives-sentenced-prison-cyberstalking.
[23] Id.
[24] Press Release, Dep’t. of Justice, eBay Inc. to Pay $3 Million in Connection with Corporate Cyberstalking Campaign Targeting Massachusetts Couple, supra note 2
[25] Id.
[26] The Associated Press, Live spiders and cockroaches: Ex-eBay executives get prison time in harassment plot, National Public Radio (September 30, 2022), https://www.npr.org/2022/09/30/1126078948/live-spiders-and-cockroaches-ex-ebay-executives-get-prison-time-in-harassment-pl.
[27] Ramona Giwargis, Embattled eBay exec has ear of another San Jose mayor, San Jose Spotlight (April 4, 2023), https://sanjosespotlight.com/embattled-ebay-tech-exec-steve-wymer-has-ear-of-matt-mahan-another-san-jose-mayor/.
[28] Ina Steiner, eBay Head of Operations and Security Wendy Jones Steps Down, eCommerceBytes Blog (December 7, 2020), https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2020/12/1607355871.html.
[29] Press Release, Dep’t. of Justice, eBay Inc. to Pay $3 Million in Connection with Corporate Cyberstalking Campaign Targeting Massachusetts Couple, supra note 2
[30] Profile of eBay, Forbes (accessed January 26, 2024), https://www.forbes.com/companies/ebay/?sh=d72621d774e3
[31] Ina and David Steiner, Victim Impact Statement in United States of America vs. eBay Inc., supra note 4
[32] Compl., United States of America v. eBay Inc., supra note 1
[33] Ina and David Steiner, Victim Impact Statement in United States of America vs. eBay Inc., supra note 4
The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal 
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