From live insects to funeral wreaths: eBay settles cyberstalking and harassment case

Harassment can take many forms: in this disturbing case, a Massachusetts couple was targeted with cyberstalking, death threats, and unsettling anonymous deliveries by former employees of eBay Inc.

In the original lawsuit filed in 2021, David and Ina Steiner, residents of Natick, Massachusetts, accused the company of attempting to “intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them” in order to “stifle their reporting on eBay,” according to the AP.

The couple runs EcommerceBytes, a news source for e-commerce and online merchants.

The settlement was reached, although its terms were not disclosed. The case can still be reopened within 60 days if the agreement is not finalized.

The criminal case began in 2020 when seven former eBay employees were charged with coordinating a harassment campaign against the couple over coverage in their newsletter. Most pleaded guilty to charges like conspiracy and cyberstalking, and were sentenced to prison terms or home confinement.

According to prosecutors, the couple received anonymous deliveries of odd or unsettling items, such as cockroaches and spiders, a funeral wreath, and a bloody pig-faced mask. Additionally, the employees delivered pornographic magazines with the husband’s name on them to a neighbor’s home and even planned to break into the couple’s garage to install a tracking device.

“This has been an unbelievably difficult ordeal for my wife and I,” David Steiner said at the time of the initial filing. “Never did we imagine doing our jobs as journalists would lead to this. We want to protect the rights of reporters and their freedom of the press. We have endured enormous cruelty and abuse and feared for our lives. If this behavior can happen to us, it can happen to anyone.”

In the original statement, eBay apologized to the couple for the conduct of the former employees and said that it fully cooperated with authorities on the matter.

“The misconduct of these former employees was wrong, and we will do what is fair and appropriate to try to address what the Steiners went through,” the company said. “The events from 2019 should never have happened, and as eBay expressed to the Steiners, we are very sorry for what they endured.”

In 2024, eBay agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty to resolve related charges.