Two former eBay executives have been given prison time for their involvement in a cyberstalking scheme.
The scheme targeted a couple behind an e-commerce blog that was critical of eBay.
James Baugh, eBay’s former senior director of safety and security, was sentenced to almost five years in prison, while eBay’s former director of global resiliency, David Harville, was given two years behind bars.
Harville and Baugh both pleaded guilty to charges in the case.
In 2019, the duo masterminded a campaign to harass Ina and David Steiner, the editor and publisher of eCommercebytes, a website closely followed by online sellers.
Prosecutors said the executives went after the couple after former eBay CEO Devin Wenig and other leaders inside the company were enraged by their coverage of the company.
The duo repeatedly sent the couple harassing and threatening messages on Twitter. The campaign escalated further when the Steiners began to receive “disturbing deliveries” to their home outside of Boston, including a book on surviving the death of a spouse, a bloody pig mask, a fetal pig, a funeral wreath and live insects, prosecutors said.
Baugh, Harville, and other eBay staff also traveled from California to the Steiners’ home to surveil the couple. They hoped to install a GPS tracker on the couples’ vehicle, but the garage was locked, so Harville purchased tools to break in, according to prosecutors.
Five other eBay employees have pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the matter.
