eBay has agreed to pay a $3 million penalty after several former employees engaged in mafia-like practices to avoid online criticism. In 2019, a group of former workers sent live spiders and cockroaches, a pig fetus, a bloody pig mask, a book about surviving the death of a spouse, and even a funeral wreath to a couple in Massachusetts who frequently spoke out against the online auction company.
Not only that, the prosecutors in charge of the case assured that the workers even traveled to Natick, where the couple lived, to monitor them and even install a GPS tracking device in their car. Facts that, the acting federal prosecutor for the District of Massachusetts, Joshua S. Levy, said in a statement, put the victims through a "pure hell":
The company engaged in absolutely horrific, criminal conduct. The company’s employees and contractors involved in this campaign put the victims through pure hell, in a petrifying campaign aimed at silencing their reporting and protecting the eBay brand.
Jamie Iannone says eBay's behavior is 'reprehensible'
For all these reasons, the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts decided to criminally charge the company with two counts of stalking through interstate travel and two other counts of stalking through electronic communications services. The brand was also charged with witness tampering and obstruction of justice.
The company assured, through a statement published on its website, that it assumes "responsibility for the misconduct of its former employees." This was stated by CEO Jamie Iannone, who described eBay's conduct as "reprehensible":
The company’s conduct in 2019 was wrong and reprehensible. From the moment eBay first learned of the 2019 events, eBay cooperated fully and extensively with law enforcement authorities. Since these events occurred, new leaders have joined the company and eBay has strengthened its policies, procedures, controls and training. eBay remains committed to upholding high standards of conduct and ethics.
