Feds charge eBay over employees who sent live spiders and cockroaches to couple; company to pay $3M
Online retailer eBay has agreed to pay a $3 million fine to resolve criminal charges over employees who harassed a Massachusetts couple by sending live spiders, cockroaches and other disturbing items to their home
BOSTON (AP) — Online retailer eBay Inc., will pay a $3 million fine to resolve criminal charges over a harassment campaign waged by employees who sent live spiders, cockroaches and other disturbing items to the home of a Massachusetts couple, according to court papers filed Thursday.
The Justice Department charged eBay in a criminal information with stalking and other offenses more than three years after the employees were prosecuted in the extensive scheme to intimidate David and Ina Steiner. The couple produced an online newsletter called EcommerceBytes that upset eBay executives with its coverage.
EBay has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement that could result in the charges against the California-headquartered company being dismissed if it complies with certain conditions, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts.
The Steiners, the newsletter's publisher and editor, have also sued the e-commerce giant in federal court, describing how cyberstalking and upsetting deliveries of anonymously sent packages upended their lives.
