eBay to pay $55.7 million to couple stalked with cockroaches and a bloody pig mask after critical blog posts

eBay and three former top executives have agreed to pay $55.7 million to resolve a lawsuit filed by a Massachusetts couple who were targeted in a bizarre and prolonged harassment campaign after their newsletter criticized the company.

The settlement breakdown

The Steiners will receive $46.15 million directly from eBay, with an additional $6 million from the company going to charitable organizations. Former CEO Devin Wenig will pay them $2 million and contribute $1 million to a free speech charity in Ina Steiner's name. Former executive Wendy Jones will pay $500,000, and former communications chief Steve Wymer will pay $50,000, bringing the total to $55.7 million (roughly $48.7 million to the couple and $7 million to nonprofits). The agreement contains no confidentiality clause, allowing the Steiners to discuss the case publicly.

This was not only an attack and campaign of harassment against two people; it was also an attack on free speech and freedom of the press.

How the harassment unfolded

In 2019, seven eBay employees pleaded guilty and received sentences of up to 57 months in prison for a scheme that involved sending the couple live cockroaches, fly larvae, a bloody Halloween pig mask, a funeral wreath, pornographic magazines, and a book about surviving the death of a spouse. Several employees traveled from California to Natick, Massachusetts, to surveil the Steiners and attempted to attach a GPS tracking device to their car. Court documents also revealed internally discussed plans to send a “Samoan gang” to the couple’s home.

The trigger: critical coverage

The campaign began after then-CEO Devin Wenig, frustrated by EcommerceBytes articles (including one about a bar he had built on eBay’s campus), texted communications chief Steve Wymer in August 2019 that it was time to “take her down,” referring to Ina Steiner. Wymer in turn told the security team to do “whatever it takes.” Wenig was never criminally charged and has maintained he had no knowledge of the harassment, a position his lawyers repeated in statements.

The harassment was done in secret and without my knowledge.

The Steiners, advocates for e-commerce sellers since the late 1990s dot-com boom, said their goal was never solely financial. “Corporations have armies of security people and they can be weaponized,” Ina Steiner said. David and Ina Steiner filed their civil suit in Boston federal court in 2021 after the criminal prosecutions began.

eBay’s response and prior penalties

eBay itself was criminally charged and in 2024 paid a $3 million fine. In a statement Tuesday, the company called the conduct “wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened,” adding that it “is not representative of eBay’s culture or thousands of employees around the world today.” The settlement also requires eBay to issue a public statement addressing the conduct of former executives involved in the case.

What the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened.

What happens next

The agreement announced Monday night on the Steiners’ website ends the civil litigation. The couple’s attorney, Christopher Murphy of Scalli Murphy Law, said the outcome sends “a clear message that corporations and their executives cannot engage in this type of misconduct without facing significant consequences.” The charitable funds will support First Amendment and free speech organizations.