eBay pays $3m fine in blogger harassment case
www.bbc.com
Executives sent live spiders and cockroaches to a US couple who criticised the firm, court papers show.
  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    6•11 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    eBay has agreed to pay a $3m (£2.36m) fine to resolve harassment charges against bloggers critical of the company.

    The US Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts said Jim Baugh, eBay’s former senior director of safety and security, had targeted the couple for producing EcommerceBytes, a newsletter that the company’s executives were unhappy with.

    The acts of intimidation included sending live insects, a foetal pig and a funeral wreath to the Steiners’ home in Natick, Massachusetts.

    Baugh and his associates also installed a GPS tracking device on the couple’s car and created posts on the website Craigslist inviting sexual encounters at their home, according to the filings.

    Baugh’s lawyers said he faced pressure from former eBay CEO Devin Wenig to reign in the Steiners over their coverage of the company.

    “eBay engaged in absolutely horrific, criminal conduct,” acting Massachusetts US Attorney Josh Levy told the AP news agency by email.

    The original article contains 293 words, the summary contains 151 words. Saved 48%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • @[email protected]English
    6•11 months ago

    Oh look, a fine for something that would put any of us in jail… Fucking two-faced shit country.

    • JessicaEnglish
      7•11 months ago

      People did go to jail.

      In 2021, employee Philip Cooke was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The following year, Baugh was sentenced to nearly five years.