Two Former eBay Execs Sentenced In Natick Couple's Harassment

NATICK, MA — Two former eBay employees charged in a harassment campaign against a Natick couple were sentenced to prison Thursday — the second and third people to be punished for their role in a terror campaign aimed at stopping the couple's newsletter.

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, according to the Boston Globe.

Baugh and Harville were among seven former eBay employees charged with harassing David and Ina Steiner, who operate the ecommerce newsletter Ecommercebytes. The newsletter and its readers often criticized eBay, angering some executives at the company, federal prosecutors have said.

"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.

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

On top of the criminal charges, David and Ina Steiner have filed a federal lawsuit against eBay, saying the company engaged in a conspiracy to "intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them" in order to "stifle their reporting on eBay."