eBay Fined $3M in Scheme to Harass Couple

Subjects of employees' campaign say they wanted more executives indicted
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 12, 2022 2:30 AM CDT
Updated Jan 11, 2024 5:45 PM CST
Ex-eBay Employees Sentenced in Wild Harassment Scheme
eBay former Senior Director of Safety and Security James Baugh arrives for his sentencing in a cyber stalking case at Moakley Federal Court on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Boston.   (Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via AP)
UPDATE Jan 11, 2024 5:45 PM CST

eBay will pay a $3 million fine, the maximum possible, to resolve criminal charges over what a prosecutor called an "absolutely horrific" employee campaign of harassment of a Massachusetts couple. If the company complies with the deal's requirements for three years, the charges could be dismissed, US Attorney Josh Levy's office in Massachusetts said. The agreement was filed in court Thursday, the AP reports. In it, the company accepted responsibility for its employees' conduct. On their website, David and Ina Steiner wrote Thursday that the harassment caused them permanent damage. They said they had "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."

Oct 12, 2022 2:30 AM CDT

A former eBay Inc. employee was sentenced Tuesday to one year behind bars for her role in a harassment scheme targeting creators of an online newsletter that included the delivery of live spiders, a bloody pig mask and other disturbing items to their home. Stephanie Popp, 34, of Louisville, Kentucky, who was eBay's senior manager of global intelligence, was sentenced to prison in Boston federal court after pleading guilty to cyberstalking conspiracy and witness tampering conspiracy charges, the AP reports. Stephanie Stockwell, 28, of Redwood City, California, former manager of eBay's Global Intelligence Center, was also sentenced on Tuesday for her role in the scheme, but avoided prison time. She was ordered to serve two years of probation, with the first year in home confinement.

They are among seven former eBay employees who have pleaded guilty in the scheme targeting a Massachusetts couple—David and Ina Steiner—who angered eBay executives with coverage of the company in their newsletter, eCommerceBytes. Stockwell and Popp reported to James Baugh, the former senior director of safety and security, who authorities say was the leader of the scheme. Baugh was sentenced last month to almost five years behind bars. Another eBay executive who pleaded guilty in the case, David Harville, was sentenced to two years in prison. Co-conspirators and former eBay employees Philip Cooke, Brian Gilbert, and Veronica Zea also pleaded guilty for their roles in the conspiracy to cyberstalk the victims. Cooke was sentenced in July 2021 to 18 months in prison, per a Justice Dept. release. Gilbert and Zea are awaiting sentencing.

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Authorities say eBay employees—at Baugh's direction—sent anonymous harassing and sometimes threatening Twitter messages criticizing the newsletter's coverage of eBay. The couple then started getting disturbing deliveries at their home, including live insects and a funeral wreath. At one point, Baugh recruited Harville to go with him to Massachusetts to spy on the couple, authorities say. They went to the couple's home in the hopes of installing a GPS tracker on their car but the garage was locked, so Harville bought tools with a plan to break into it, prosecutors say. Prosecutors called Popp one of the "most culpable participants" in the scheme. She was involved in all aspects of the harassment campaign and "knew both its full extent and the effect that it was having on its 'rattled' victims," prosecutors wrote in court documents.

(More eBay stories.)

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