eBay and three former executives have agreed to pay $55.7 million to settle a lawsuit from a Massachusetts couple who were the target of a cyberstalking and harassment campaign carried out by company employees, according to reporting by the Associated Press.
The case, which began with a critical newsletter and ended with federal prison sentences for several former staffers, is an example of what happens when misconduct by people with power goes unchecked. New research suggests that pattern is actually quite common, on a much smaller scale, in workplaces everywhere.
What happened at eBay?
David and Ina Steiner run ECommerceBytes, an online newsletter covering e-commerce, from their home in Natick, Mass. After the couple published coverage critical of eBay, the company said in their 2021 lawsuit that current and former employees ran a campaign meant to “intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them.” The couple received live spiders and cockroaches, a bloody pig mask and a book about surviving a spouse’s death, among other deliveries. Seven former employees were criminally charged in 2020, and several were sentenced to prison.
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eBay itself, not just the individuals involved, bore financial responsibility because the conduct traced back to senior leadership rather than isolated rank-and-file action. The lawsuit alleged a coordinated conspiracy involving people in senior security and communications roles who used their positions and company resources to carry it out. eBay separately reached a deferred prosecution agreement with federal authorities in 2024 and paid a $3 million criminal penalty tied to the same conduct.
The company has acknowledged the harassment publicly, saying it was committed to compensating the Steiners fairly for what they endured. Former CEO Devin Wenig, who was not criminally charged, will pay the Steiners $2 million as part of the settlement and said in a statement that the harassment was “wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened.”
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Employee outlook on leadership misconduct
The case traces back to internal messages showing senior leaders venting anger at the couple’s reporting, a dynamic that new survey data suggests is widespread in a much less extreme form. A TalentLMS survey of 1,000 U.S. employees found that 62% believe misconduct is more likely to be overlooked when it involves a top performer or a leader, and 45% have seen someone promoted after mistreating others.
Nearly half of respondents said managers actively discourage employees from escalating harassment or discrimination complaints. The same data shows why so much of this goes unreported. One in four employees who witnessed or experienced mistreatment did not report it. Of those, 56% said they didn’t believe reporting would lead to change, and 36% feared retaliation.
“Training influences how employees respond to situations they face at work,” said Theoni Velkou, compliance manager and data protection officer at Epignosis, TalentLMS’s parent company, in a release. “When compliance training reflects real workplace scenarios, it helps people recognize misconduct, understand what steps they can take and feel more comfortable speaking up. That kind of practical training builds stronger trust across the organization.”
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