eBay are paying a $3,000,000 harassment penalty in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. This is to resolve a case where the former CEO Devin Wenig’s security team horrifically harassed Ina and David Steiner when he didn’t like what they wrote.
Devin Wenig abruptly left eBay and and in due course six sacked eBay employees were charged with cyberstalking. As part of the new agreement, eBay takes responsibility for the misconduct of its former employees.
The company’s conduct in 2019 was wrong and reprehensible. From the moment eBay first learned of the 2019 events, eBay cooperated fully and extensively with law enforcement authorities. We continue to extend our deepest apologies to the Steiners for what they endured. Since these events occurred, new leaders have joined the company and eBay has strengthened its policies, procedures, controls and training. eBay remains committed to upholding high standards of conduct and ethics and to making things right with the Steiners.
– Jamie Iannone, Chief Executive Officer, eBay
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has acknowledged that eBay provided extensive cooperation to the Government during the course of its parallel investigation. Specifically, as noted in the deferred prosecution agreement, the Company’s cooperation included “proactively disclosing certain evidence of which the United States was previously unaware; providing information obtained through its internal investigation, which allowed the government to preserve and obtain evidence as part of its own independent investigation; making detailed factual presentations to the U.S. Attorney’s Office; voluntarily facilitating interviews of employees; and collecting and producing voluminous relevant documents to the U.S. Attorney’s Office”.
Under the three-year deferred prosecution agreement, eBay has agreed that the U.S. Attorney’s Office will file a six-count criminal Information in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the U.S. Attorney has agreed to defer any prosecution of eBay on those counts.
During the agreement’s three-year term, eBay will continue to cooperate fully with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and will be subject to an independent compliance monitor to assess its compliance program and, where appropriate, to modify that program. eBay will also be required to pay a harassment penalty of $3,000,000.
If eBay successfully meets its obligations under the deferred prosecution agreement, after three years, the agreement will expire, and the U.S. Attorney has agreed to dismiss the criminal Information against eBay.
