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Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy said the employee's actions put the couple through "pure hell" and said eBay's conduct was "absolutely horrific."
eBay engaged in absolutely horrific, criminal conduct. 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. We left no stone unturned in our mission to hold accountable every individual who turned the victims’ world upside-down through a never-ending nightmare of menacing and criminal acts. The investigation led to felony convictions for seven individuals, all former eBay employees or contractors, and the ringleader was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison.
eBay admitted that in August 2019, Jim Baugh, eBay’s former senior director of safety and security, and six other members of eBay’s security team targeted Ina and David Steiner over a blog they published on their website eCommerceBytes, the federal prosecutor said.
They sent the couple harassing messages on Twitter that included their home address and threats of violence, authorities said. They posted Craigslist ads that invited people to the Steiners' home for sex.
They also mailed the couple live roaches, spiders, fly larvae, a bloody pig mask, a fetal pig, a funeral wreathe, and a book about the death of a spouse, authorities said.
Baugh, age 47, of San Jose, CA, and David Harville, 50, of Las Vegas, "weaponized" the online auction giant's power and security services to silence the couple, but it didn't work, federal prosecutors previously said.
Baugh was sentenced to 57 months in prison in 2022 and a $40,000 fine, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said. Baugh pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit stalking across state lines, two counts of witness tampering, and two charges of destruction, alteration, and falsification of records.
Harville, who served as the company's former director of global resiliency, was sentenced to two years in federal prison and a $20,000 fine. He admitted to several stalking charges, officials added.
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