BOSTON (NEWSnet/AP) — Online retailer eBay Inc. must pay a $3 million fine to resolve criminal charges over a harassment campaign waged by employees who sent live spiders and cockroaches to the home of a Massachusetts couple, according to court papers filed Thursday.

U.S. Department of Justice charged eBay in a criminal information with stalking, witness tampering and obstruction of justice.

The employees already were prosecuted in the scheme to intimidate David and Ina Steiner. The couple produced an online newsletter called EcommerceBytes that upset eBay executives with its coverage.

EBay has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement that could result in the charges against the  company being dismissed if it complies with specific conditions, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts.

“EBay engaged in absolutely horrific, criminal conduct,” acting Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Josh Levy said. “The company’s employees and contractors involved in this campaign put the victims through pure hell, in a petrifying campaign aimed at silencing their reporting and protecting the eBay brand.”

The Steiners, the newsletter’s publisher and editor, also have sued eBay in federal court, describing how cyberstalking and upsetting deliveries of anonymously sent packages upended their lives.

Ina Steiner received harassing and sometimes threatening Twitter messages as well as dozens of strange emails.

Along with a box of live spiders and the cockroaches, the couple had a funeral wreath, a bloody pig mask and a book about surviving the loss of a spouse arrive at their door. 

Harassment started in 2019 after Ina Steiner wrote a story about a lawsuit brought by eBay that accused accusing Amazon of poaching sellers, according to court records.

Thirty minutes after the article was published, eBay’s then-CEO, Devin Wenig, sent another top executive a message saying: “If you are ever going to take her down ... now is the time,” according to court documents. The executive sent Wenig’s message to James Baugh, who was eBay’s senior director of safety and security, and called Ina Steiner a “biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN.”

Baugh was among seven former employees who pleaded guilty in the case. He was sentenced in 2022 to almost five years in prison. Another former executive, David Harville, was sentenced to two years.

Follow NEWSnet on Facebook and X platform to get our headlines in your social feeds.

Copyright 2024 NEWSnet and The Associated Press. All rights reserved.