Two former eBay executives sentenced to prison for involvement in cyberstalking scheme

Two erstwhile eBay executives were fixed jailhouse time Thursday for their engagement successful a cyberstalking strategy that targeted a mates down an e-commerce blog that was perceived arsenic captious of the company.

James Baugh, eBay's erstwhile elder manager of information and security, was sentenced to astir 5 years successful prison, portion eBay's erstwhile manager of planetary resiliency, David Harville, was fixed 2 years down bars. 

Baugh, Harville, and a fig of different eBay executives successful 2019 hatched a run to harass Ina and David Steiner, the exertion and steadfast of eCommercebytes, a website intimately followed by online sellers. Prosecutors said the executives were urged by erstwhile eBay CEO Devin Wenig to spell aft the mates aft helium and different leaders wrong the institution were enraged by their sum of the company.

What unfolded was a bizarre and convoluted "three-part harassment campaign" that was intended to "intimidate" the Steiners and power their reporting connected the company, prosecutors said successful a statement.

EBay executives repeatedly sent the mates harassing and threatening messages connected Twitter. The run escalated further erstwhile the Steiners began to person "disturbing deliveries" to their location extracurricular of Boston, including a publication connected surviving the decease of a spouse, a bloody pig mask, a fetal pig, a ceremonial wreath and unrecorded insects, prosecutors said. Additionally, Craigslist posts appeared online inviting strangers to acquisition intersexual encounters astatine the victims' home. 

Baugh, Harville and others besides traveled from California to the Steiners' location to surveil the couple. They hoped to instal a GPS tracker connected the couples' vehicle, but the store was locked, truthful Harville purchased tools to interruption in.. 

Five different eBay employees person pleaded blameworthy to conspiracy successful the matter. 

"The defendants' toxic marque of online and real-world harassment, threats, and stalking was outrageous, cruel and defies immoderate explanation—all the much due to the fact that these men were seasoned and highly paid information executives backed by the resources of a Fortune 500 corporation," U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said successful a statement. "Their behaviour was reprehensible."

An eBay spokesperson didn't respond to a petition for comment. Ina Steiner didn't instantly instrumentality a petition for comment. 

Wenig, who resigned arsenic CEO successful 2019, is not named successful the case. The Steiners person filed a abstracted suit against eBay, Wenig and erstwhile elder vice president Steve Wymer. That lawsuit ise pending.

"We judge everyone who played a relation should beryllium held accountable," Ina Steiner wrote in a blog post astir the lawsuit connected Wednesday.

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