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eBay executives to pay $55.7 million in harassment settlement
The settlement includes $48.7 million in compensation to the couple, with most of the amount funded by eBay plus out-of-pocket payments from three named former executives.
eBay and three former executives have agreed to pay $55.7 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a Massachusetts couple who said they were targeted by a company-run harassment campaign after criticizing the e-commerce company in an industry newsletter, according to Insurance Business citing court documents and Associated Press and Financial Times reporting.
The deal ends more than six years of civil and criminal proceedings tied to a 2019 campaign that included sending live spiders and cockroaches, a bloody pig Halloween mask, and a funeral wreath to David and Ina Steiner, who run EcommerceBytes, a trade newsletter covering online retail.
The report says harassment began after then-CEO Devin Wenig grew frustrated with the couple's critical coverage in 2018 and urged his communications team to expose alleged bias and inaccuracies in Ina Steiner's reporting. It escalated beyond a dispute, with eBay employees creating a fake social media account impersonating a seller, publicizing the couple's home address, tailing them in rental vehicles, and attempting to fit a GPS tracker to the couple's car, which later involved local police and the FBI.
Insurance Business notes the settlement breaks down into $48.7 million in direct compensation, mostly funded by eBay, alongside personal contributions from Wenig, Wendy Jones, and Steve Wymer, and an additional $6 million to charity, including $1 million from Wenig for a free-press nonprofit. The outlet also points to the unusually direct payments by the executives in a case where D&O coverage often does not respond once criminal conduct is established.