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Seven people who worked for eBay ultimately pleaded guilty to criminal charges (four served time in prison) and the company paid a $3 million penalty, but no senior executives were charged.
Now the e-commerce giant will pay the Steiners $46.15 million, former chief executive Wenig will pay the couple $2 million, former chief communications officer Steve Wymer will pay $50,000, and former chief of global operations Wendy Jones will pay $500,000.
The company also agreed to donate $6 million to various charities and Wenig will donate $1 million to a charity dedicated to protecting First Amendment rights in the name of Ina Steiner.
“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,” attorney Christopher Murphy said in a statement.
The company posted a statement admitting that the harassment was “wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened.”
“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,” the company statement added. “We also acknowledge the unprofessional tone in internal communications demonstrated, to different degrees and number, by Mr. Wenig, Mr. Wymer, and Ms. Jones.”
Wenig continued to maintain that he did not know about the harassment campaign.
“No one should ever have been subjected to what the Steiners endured in 2019, and I’m saddened by it, especially because it occurred during my time as CEO of eBay,” he said in a statement to the Globe. “The harassment was deliberately done in secret and without my knowledge, as established by an independent law firm review, a federal probe, and the sworn testimony of the security employee convicted as the ‘ringleader.’ This behavior is antithetical to everything I stand for and believe in.”
Lawyers for the other two other defendants did not respond to requests for comment.
Unlike many settlements, the agreement does not include a confidentiality clause prohibiting the Steiners from speaking publicly. And eBay will issue “a strongly-worded public statement” regarding the conduct of its former executives, Murphy said.
The parties announced an agreement in principle in February, but tense negotiations had dragged on for months. In June, a lawyer for the Steiners told US Judge Patti Saris, overseeing the case, that a final settlement could not be reached and Saris rescheduled a jury trial for early next year.
The roots of the stalking started as early as 2018, when Wenig complained to his communications team about critical coverage on the Steiners’ site, according to emails made public as part of a settlement the company struck with prosecutors to avoid charges. Jones, then senior vice president of global operations, wrote that the company should “clap back at Ina,” in one message. Wymer, hired at the beginning of 2019, told subordinates to “eff with her” and wrote “I want to blow her site up.”
Wenig’s complaints continued. In May 2019, he wrote to Wymer: “I couldn’t care less what she says” and “take her down,” in reference to Ina Steiner. And in an August 2019 text conversation, the CEO wrote: “If we are ever going to take her down ..now is the time.”
The articles that drew the eBay executives’ ire included reports about the CEO’s salary and his comments on protecting e-sellers against fraud. Prosecutors revealed angry text messages about an April 10, 2019, article titled “eBay CEO Devin Wenig Earns 152 Times That of Employees,” as well as “eBay CEO Says Sellers Can Expect Greater Protections,” from May 31, 2019. Such articles generated reader comments that were highly critical of the company’s leadership and its treatment of smaller sellers, who felt left behind in favor of larger retailers.
Wenig’s lawyers have argued during the lawsuit that the “take her down” comments have been taken out of context and refered to a planned publicity campaign strategy.
Wymer in turn relayed the complaints to Jim Baugh, a former CIA employee who eBay had tapped to head its global security unit. Baugh hatched the harassment campaign from his unit, including sending the Steiners threatening messages from fake Twitter accounts, live spiders and roaches, a bloody pig mask like the one in the horror movie “Saw,” and a funeral wreath.
On Aug. 15, 2019, Baugh and several of his employees traveled to Boston. They tried to install a GPS tracking device on the Steiners’ car and followed David Steiner around Natick.
After the Steiners reported to local police the license plate number of the rental car the eBay team was using to stalk them, the scheme unraveled.
Prosecutors charged Baugh and six of his subordinates with charges related to the stalking and harassment and all pleaded guilty. Baugh was sentenced to 57 months in prison.
The company fired Wymer in 2019 after an internal investigation. Wenig resigned the same year, keeping $17 million of annual compensation and $40 million of severance. Jones retired from the company in 2020, making $16 million that year, according to court filings.
The Steiners filed their lawsuit in 2021.
The 2019 scheme “to intimidate, threaten, torture, terrorize, stalk, and silence the Steiners was successful and harmful,” the Steiners’ lawsuit stated. “The unrelenting stream of threats to kill, disturbing deliveries, as well as the physical surveillance caused the Steiners to suffer from significant and continuing emotional distress.”
The Steiners’ lawsuit alleged that Wenig had set the incidents in motion by sending texts to a subordinate criticizing Ecommercebytes and saying of Ina Steiner, “take her down.”
Aaron Pressman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @ampressman.
