MA Couple's eBay Harassment Lawsuit Likely To Move Forward

NATICK, MA — The lawsuit filed by a Natick couple against eBay and former executives of the company is unlikely to be dismissed, a federal judge said this week.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris said that she may narrow the lawsuit in some instances, but the filing by David and Ina Steiner over a stalking and harassment campaign against the couple likely won't be dismissed entirely, Reuters reported.

Another interesting development from the reporting, eBay is said to have already set aside $64 million to cover liability stemming from the lawsuit, a potential settlement with the Department of Justice and other, unrelated costs.

The Steiner's federal lawsuit against eBay accuses the company of engaging in a conspiracy to "intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them" in order to "stifle their reporting on eBay."

In total, seven people have been criminally charged for the plot, including two company executives.

The charges were filed against members of the company for harassing the Steiners, who operate the ecommerce newsletter Ecommercebytes. The newsletter was critical of eBay, which prosecutors said miffed the company executives and others, leading to this plot.

"It is alleged that in August 2019, after the newsletter published an article about litigation involving eBay, two members of eBay’s executive leadership team sent or forwarded text messages suggesting that it was time to 'take down' the newsletter’s editor," federal prosecutors said when six employees were indicted in June 2020.

The scheme involved "anonymous and profane demands that the couple stop reporting about eBay; the publication of their home address on Twitter and threats to visit them there; the delivery of live insects and a funeral wreath; Craigslist posts inviting all comers to sexual encounters at their home; a black van that followed the husband as he drove around Natick, and so much more," federal prosecutors said in court documents.

James Baugh, of San Jose, Calif., eBay’s former Senior Director of Safety & Security, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison and a $40,000 fine; David Harville, of New York City, eBay’s former Director of Global Resiliency, was sentenced to two years in federal prison and a $20,000 fine.

Baugh and Harville are said to have organized the plot.

Read more: Two Former eBay Execs Sentenced In Natick Couple's Harassment

Stephanie Popp, 34, of Louisville, Ky., was sentenced to a year and one day in prison, plus two years of probation. Stephanie Stockwell, 28, of Redwood City, Calif., was sentenced to a year of home confinement.

According to prosecutors, both women had a hand in harassing the newsletter publishers. Stockwell sent live spiders and pizza deliveries to the Steiner's home, plus other deliveries like a fetal pig and a book about how to cope with the death of a spouse, prosecutors said. Meanwhile, Popp used Twitter to criticize the couple, and posted an ad on Craigslist "inviting members of the public to experience sexual encounters at the victims’ home," prosecutors said.

Read more: Two More Former eBay Employees Sentenced In Natick Cyberstalking Case

Another former eBay employee, Philip Cooke, was sentenced in July 2021 to 1-1/2 years in federal prison on a cyberstalking charge.

With reporting from Neal McNamara.