By The Daily Caller (U.S.) | Created at 2026-07-31 18:06:23 | Updated at 2026-08-02 23:40:29
2 days ago
The e-commerce giant eBay, as well as three former top executives at the company, agreed to pay $55.7 million to a Massachusetts couple who published an e-commerce newsletter.
The couple, David and Ina Steiner, alleged in a 2021 lawsuit that they were stalked and harassed by the company, including by employees sending them fly larvae, cockroaches and a bloody Halloween pig mask, CNN Business reported Wednesday. Authorities are also prosecuting eBay and the three executives for targeting the couple.
eBay will pay $56 million to a couple who were sent insects, a fetal pig, and bloody pig masks by staff
They had been critical of the marketplace on their website pic.twitter.com/vOf3tlRTWg
The dispute began when the Steiner’s newsletter, ECommerceBytes, was publishing articles that former CEO Devin Wenig deemed critical of eBay back in August of 2019. (RELATED: Trump Relaunches Global Trade War)
BREAKING: Civil suit by journalists Ina & David Steiner against eBay & ex-employees re 2019 stalking scandal has reached final settlement to avoid 2027 trial.
Dismissal against all defendants with prejudice means case can't be reopened.⚖️$EBAY https://t.co/ZGWJQ2IOeZ pic.twitter.com/T9WX9swy1K
Speaking on Ina Steiner, Wenig texted ex-chief communications officer Steve Wymer that it was time to “take her down,” CNN Business reported, citing the lawsuit. From there, the campaign allegedly begun, but Wenig stepped down in September of 2019.
His lawyers said he had no idea that the harassment was taking place and argued that his messages were intended to convey a “public relations strategy” to counter Ina Steiner’s coverage.
Wenig will pay $2,000,000 to the couple and send $1,000,000 to a First Amendment-oriented charity in the name of Ina Steiner.
“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,” Wenig said in a statement Tuesday. “This behavior is antithetical to everything I stand for and believe in.”
The agreed conditions of the settlement include eBay paying $46.15 million to the Steiner family, sending $6 million to charity and writing a “strongly-worded” statement regarding the conflict of the former higher-ups connected to this case.
“We believe this resolution sends a clear message that corporations and their executives cannot engage in this type of misconduct without facing significant consequences,” Christopher Murphy, the Steiners’ attorney, said in a statement.
It was not just the company and its top executives that were punished for the scheme.
Some seven ex-eBay general employees pleaded guilty for taking part in the campaign — one will serve as much as 57 months behind prison bars for their role, which was as elaborate as a few of them traveling from the California to Natick, Massachusetts, to carry out espionage on the couple.
In their travels, they tried to install a GPS tracking device in their car, according to authorities.
The goal of the company was to silence the couple, prosecutors argued.
eBay described the situation and the impact that it had on the couple as “wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened.”
“We continue to extend our deepest apologies to the Steiners,” the company said. “This agreement is consistent with our commitment to fairly compensate the Steiners and fulfills our efforts to make things right.”
