The alleged cyberstalking campaign was launched soon after Devin
Wenig, eBay’s chief executive at the time, and his chief
communications officer, Steve Wymer, embarked on a more aggressive
public-relations strategy that included challenging critics such as
ECommerceBytes, people familiar with the matter say.
As part of that strategy, eBay executives tried to prove their
suspicion that its rival Amazon.com Inc. was helping to fund
ECommerceBytes, two of these people said.
They ultimately didn’t find any evidence of that. An Amazon
spokesman said the company has never funded the site.
-----------
Mr. Wenig’s wife, Cindy Wenig, had complained to eBay’s security
team about the tone of ECommerceBytes’ reader comments about her
husband, particularly after an unknown man had shown up at their
house.
Mr. Wenig, who left the company last fall, said in an interview he
didn’t order any type of harassment of the Steiners, nor was he
aware of the security team’s efforts.
Mr. Wenig said he was in a monthlong sabbatical in Italy when the
alleged activity took place last August and didn’t find out the
details until they were made public on June 15.
“It’s totally embarrassing, and it’s just ridiculous,” he
said. “It’s so not the culture of the company.”
Mr. Wymer, his former communications chief, said, “I would never
condone or participate in any such activity.”
-----------
The woman said to have rented the car, Ms. Zea, an eBay contractor
who worked as an intelligence analyst, declined to comment.
Mr. Harville, eBay’s former director of global resiliency,
didn’t respond to requests for comment.
They were two of the six charged with conspiracy to commit
cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses.
-----------
When Mr. Wenig took over eBay in 2015, the company had been
struggling to compete with a surging Amazon in the marketplace
business.
He was intent on restoring it to its glory days as a tech darling.
He sometimes wore a black T-shirt with a white pirate emblem, given
to him by employees, to encourage disruptive thinking. He redesigned
eBay’s logo and poured millions of dollars into renovating its San
Jose headquarters.
-----------
Yet even as he sought to aggressively recast eBay as a Silicon
Valley underdog, he often reacted forcefully to what he perceived as
negative coverage of the company.
Former employees say he could be set off by even the smallest of
slights, including reader comments on blog posts, YouTube videos and
media reports about his compensation.
Some of his concerns about critical coverage or comments were voiced
in text messages he exchanged with Mr. Wymer.
-----------
After a May 31, 2019, post on the Steiners’ site analyzed Mr.
Wenig’s remarks at a shareholder meeting, according to the
affidavit, the CEO texted Mr. Wymer. “I couldn’t care less what
she says,” he said, referring to Ms. Steiner. “Take her down.”
Mr. Wenig said he was referring to the aggressive media campaign.
-----------
EBay has at other times pressured detractors to remove negative
content.
In late 2018, eBay executives pushed longtime seller Casey Parris to
remove what the company perceived to be a negative YouTube video
about the company, saying the company “didn’t like the tone”
and threatened a lawsuit if it wasn’t removed, Mr. Parris said.
When he asked his contact at eBay how the company would have even
seen his video, Mr. Parris said, he was told that its security team
was watching all the time. He said he recently told eBay about the
incident and the company said it would investigate. “I’m still
scared by it,” he said.
Another seller, Danni Ackerman, said eBay stopped inviting her to
events after she started a YouTube channel that criticized policy
changes that affected sellers, as part of what she called the
company’s “bully culture.”
-----------
A spokeswoman for eBay said the company “has always sought out
candid and constructive feedback from all of our stakeholders, in
particular our seller community. We deeply value this input.”
In a blog post addressed to sellers last week, Jordan Sweetnam, head
of eBay’s marketplace business in the U.S., Canada and Latin
America, said the alleged acts by eBay security officials “were
isolated incidents and not a systemic issue.”
EBay held a private Zoom call Thursday for its sellers, assuring
them that all the bad apples at the company were gone, and that eBay
was looking into individual claims, according to a person familiar
with the call.
-----------
ECommerceBytes was founded in 1999 after Mr. Steiner, 61 years old,
an auction enthusiast and video producer, had difficulty placing a
listing of video equipment on eBay.
Figuring other sellers might also be having similar trouble, the
Steiners launched the site — then called AuctionBytes.com — to
help others navigate the online commerce world.
Ms. Steiner, 58, a longtime writer and editor, writes most of the
website’s content. Both of the Steiners are collectors, browsing
garage sales in their free time.
-----------
“Here was a new market that no one was writing about, so they
began to cover the market in an agnostic way,” said Gary Sohmers,
an early eBay seller and longtime appraiser who knows the Steiners.
The Steiners didn’t respond to requests for comment.
-----------
Though obscure, the site built a significant following among eBay
sellers, with several thousand subscriptions by 2019. The reader
comments on the posts were at times snarky and personal.
Some taunted eBay executives, including then-CEO Meg Whitman and
John Donahoe, now CEO of Nike Inc. A comment from 2017 called Mr.
Wenig the devil, according to the affidavit.
-----------
Mr. Wenig, a New York transplant who once ran the financial and
media businesses at Thomson Reuters Markets LLC, became CEO after
eBay spun off payments giant PayPal Holdings Inc. in 2015.
In January 2019, hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. disclosed a
more than 4% stake in eBay and said the company should consider
selling its StubHub ticketing business and classifieds-ads unit and
focus on repairing its core marketplace.
By early that year, Mr. Wenig and his public-relations team had
decided to alter the company’s public-relations strategy.
Rather than responding to interview requests or sending out news
releases, they planned to take a more aggressive approach with
publications that wrote negative stories about eBay, according to
people familiar with the decision.
In a recent interview, Mr. Wenig said he didn’t spend any more or
less time than the average CEO thinking about media coverage. “I
think all CEOs care about the coverage of their company,” he said.
-----------
In April 2019, Ms. Steiner wrote a short article about Mr. Wenig’s
compensation, based on a public Securities and Exchange Commission
filing, titled “eBay CEO Devin Wenig Earns 152 Times That of
Employees.”
A commenter posted: “What a foolish Board. What an overpaid empty
suit. What a joke.”
According to the affidavit, Mr. Wymer, then eBay’s communications
chief, texted Mr. Wenig that they would “crush this lady.”
-----------
The Wall Street Journal wrote a 164-word article about Mr. Wenig’s
$18.2 million compensation around the same time, with the headline
“EBay Chief Executive Wenig Got Raise in 2018.”
“F— them,” Mr. Wenig texted Mr. Wymer, according to the
affidavit. “The journal is next on the list” after Ms. Steiner.
After brainstorming ways to go after the Journal, eBay employees
ultimately abandoned the effort, according to people familiar with
the plans.
-----------
EBay executives decided to examine Amazon’s relationship with
ECommerceBytes, hoping to be able to point out to a reporter or
publish a blog post on its website arguing that it was improper for
a publication to accept money from an e-commerce giant it was
writing about, according to people familiar with those plans.
EBay also is suing three Amazon employees who it claims worked to
illegally recruit its third-party sellers.
-----------
By the summer of 2019, James Baugh, then eBay’s director of safety
and security, was laying the groundwork for an alleged campaign to
silence the Steiners, according to the affidavit.
Mr. Baugh, a native of Arkansas and longtime security executive,
joined the company in 2016.
At one meeting, the affidavit said, Mr. Baugh showed his team a clip
from the 1988 film comedy “Johnny Be Good,” in which two friends
arrange for a series of odd, unwanted deliveries to their football
coach.
Mr. Baugh allegedly said he wanted something similar to happen to
the Steiners.
-----------
Mr. Wenig’s wife had texted Mr. Baugh in July about a reader
comment that called Mr. Wenig a “con artist and thief,” under an
ECommerceBytes article.
“The author gets people worked up with the way she skews her
stories,” Ms. Wenig wrote, according to the affidavit.
A spokeswoman said Ms. Wenig was concerned about the safety of her
family after one commenter threatened a “crash landing” for Mr.
Wenig shortly before the family was planning to fly to Italy.
-----------
ECommerceBytes published several more negative stories about eBay
around the time of its annual seller conference in Las Vegas in July
2019.
A text exchange cited in the affidavit indicates that after being
alerted to the stories by Mr. Wymer, Mr. Wenig texted him: “If you
are ever going to take her down, now is the time.”
“On it,” Mr. Wymer responded.
He texted Mr. Baugh the message from Mr. Wenig, adding, “She is
biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN.”
“Copy that,” Mr. Baugh said. “I have a plan B. I will put it
in motion.”
In meetings with his analysts and other members of eBay’s security
team, Mr. Baugh warned that the campaign had to be kept
confidential, but told them he had support of executive management.
-----------
According to the affidavit, the planned campaign against the
Steiners was supposed to have two parts.
After the initial harassment, eBay would begin a “white-knight
strategy” of offering to help the victims end the mysterious
communications and deliveries, the affidavit said. Local police
stepped in before that happened.
Mr. Baugh, who also was charged by the U.S. attorney’s office,
didn’t respond to requests for comment, nor did his lawyer.
-----------
In Natick, Ms. Steiner began getting dozens of emails and
newsletters she hadn’t signed up for with subjects like “Cat
Faeries,” and “the Satanic Temple.”
An anonymous Twitter user sent her private messages, demanding her
response and then threatening “I guess im goin to have to get ur
attention another way bitch…”
On Craigslist, a post popped up with the Steiners’ address, and a
title “M/F couple seeking activity partner.”
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/4769/QYUhIq.jpg [2]
Another post announced “BLOCK PARTY in Natick - Let’s have some
fun!”, again with the couple’s address, and inviting people to
stop by “anytime of day or night.”
-----------
Once the police connected the activity to eBay, the executives
involved allegedly tried to cover their tracks.
Mr. Baugh sent a message from his personal cellphone to Mr. Wymer,
saying he and members of his team were cooperating, that they had
done nothing illegal, and asking “if there is any way to get some
top cover that would be great.”
Mr. Baugh directed his team members to delete their WhatsApp and
phone data, according to the affidavit.
-----------
The eBay board’s audit committee learned of the investigation in
late August, and the broader board was briefed the following month
during a five-hour call led by lawyers at Morgan Lewis & Bockius,
according to people familiar with the matter.
The board was told the investigation found no evidence that Mr.
Wenig was aware of the actions, these people said.
-----------
The company placed Messrs. Baugh and Harville and another member of
the security team on administrative leave on Aug. 30.
The company later fired all six who were charged, and Mr. Wymer.
-----------
When Mr. Wenig was pushed out as CEO in late September, the
directors said the main reasons were the company’s financial
performance and his disagreement with a large investor about the
best path forward for the company, according to people familiar with
the matter.
The investigation also played a role, and directors blamed him for
setting a cutthroat tone at the top. Mr. Wenig received a $57
million exit package.
-----------
On the day the U.S. attorney’s office announced its charges, Ms.
Steiner posted a press release to ECommerceBytes, with no further
comment.
(END)
-------------------------
FROM: MoPo List <[email protected]> on behalf of David
Kusumoto <[email protected]>
SENT: Tuesday, June 16, 2020 1:12 PM
TO: [email protected] <[email protected]>
SUBJECT: Re - (FULL TEXT WSJ FRONT PAGE) - JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
CHARGES FORMER eBay STAFF WITH 'CYBERSTALKING CAMPAIGN'
Sorry for not responding to requests until hours later. This story
may have since been updated - but the WSJ gave it the biggest play
this morning - because it was also threatened by eBay.
Because it and the NY Times - gave it big play - copycat news
organizations have since followed, piggy-backing on the WSJ's
original research and delving into the complaint itself.
Note that in all news accounts, eBay responds by distancing itself
- saying that all defendants no longer work for eBay. It's obvious
that it knew about the federal investigations well before
yesterday's announcement by the DOJ - and was bracing for the worst
while launching a damage control strategy in its prepared statements
to news organizations.
Nevertheless, here is the longer WSJ story as it appeared on this
morning's front page. The WSJ has always had a paywall for its
exclusively researched content.
The shorter NY Times version should be accessible to all in private
mode.
=================
=================
=================
PAGE ONE - WALL STREET JOURNAL
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CHARGES FORMER EBAY STAFF WITH 'CYBERSTALKING
CAMPAIGN'
COCKROACHES, A BLOODY-PIG MASK: SIX FORMER WORKERS AT EBAY ARE
ALLEGED TO HAVE STALKED A NEWSLETTER EDITOR.
By Sebastian Herrera for the Wall Street Journal
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
------
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged six former workers at
eBay Inc. with leading a cyberstalking campaign against a
Massachusetts couple who publish an e-commerce blog, EcommerceBytes,
that criticized the company.
The department on Monday said the attacks included sending the
couple threatening Twitter messages and packages that contained live
cockroaches, a funeral wreath and a bloody-pig mask.
The department also alleges that the defendants, whose
responsibilities included security and global intelligence,
conducted covert surveillance of the Natick, Mass., couple.
------
The alleged actions by the employees, whom eBay fired in September
after an investigation, followed criticism of EcommerceBytes by top
executives that included Devin Wenig, the company's chief executive
at the time, according to the complaint, which doesn't identify Mr.
Wenig by name.
"We are going to crush this lady," an unnamed eBay executive texted
on April 10, 2019, to another unnamed eBay executive, identified as
"Executive 1" in the complaint.
The text included a link to an EcommerceBytes blog post about
"Executive 1's compensation," the complaint says.
The blog post is titled "eBay CEO Devin Wenig Earns 152 Times That
of Employees," indicating that Mr. Wenig is Executive 1 in the
complaint. That person hasn't been charged.
------
Later, after an unspecified EcommerceBytes post on May 31, Mr.
Wenig texted: "Take her down."
At another point, he also used an expletive to refer to The Wall
Street Journal's coverage of the company. "The journal is next on
the list," he said in the text, according to the complaint.
It couldn't be determined if the Journal or any of its reporters
was targeted.
------
Early in 2019, EBay was locked in a battle with activist investors
Elliott Management Corp. and Starboard Value LP, which were pushing
for board seats and a deal that it was believed could lead to a
company breakup.
EBay has since sold off the ticketing site StubHub and is
considering a sale of its classifieds unit to assuage Elliott and
Starboard.
"It goes pretty far up the chain at eBay," U.S. Attorney Andrew
Lelling said Monday at a news conference. He noted that the Justice
Department investigation continues.
------
Ina Steiner, the editor of EcommerceBytes and the author of the
posts, as well as her husband David Steiner, didn't respond to
requests for comment Monday.
EBay on Monday said it was notified by law enforcement in August of
suspicious activity by the company's security personnel directed at
the newsletter editor and her husband, who serves as publisher.
The online marketplace said it immediately launched an
investigation and in September fired all those staff involved in the
campaign.
The company said its investigation included examining whether
then-CEO Wenig might have played a role in the harassment of the
editor and publisher.
The company said that while it found that some of Mr. Wenig's
communications at the time "were inappropriate," it found no
evidence that he knew in advance or authorized any actions against
the couple.
Mr. Wenig resigned in September over what he said were
disagreements with eBay's board, including clashes over the sale of
assets.
In a statement Monday, Mr. Wenig said he didn't direct or know
anything about the alleged acts involving the former eBay employees.
"What these charges allege is unconscionable," he said.
"EBay does not tolerate this kind of behavior," a special committee
formed by eBay's board of directors said Monday. "EBay holds its
employees to high standards of conduct and ethics and will continue
to take appropriate action to ensure these standards are followed."
------
Those charged included James Baugh, who was senior director of
safety and security at eBay, David Harville, formerly director of
global resiliency, and Brian Gilbert, a manager in the company's
global security team.
The other defendants are Stephanie Popp, Stephanie Stockwell and
contractor Veronica Zea, all of whom worked in eBay's global
intelligence operations.
Mr. Baugh and Mr. Harville were arrested Monday on charges of
conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with
witness, each of which carry a potential sentence of up to five
years in prison.
Mr. Gilbert, Ms. Popp, Ms. Stockwell and Ms. Zea also face the same
charges and are scheduled to appear in federal court, the department
said.
The defendants couldn't be reached for comment.
------
The alleged cyberstalking began after the newsletter wrote about
litigation involving the online marketplace, according to the
complaint.
Members of eBay's executive team followed the newsletter's posts
and often took issues with its content, according to the Justice
Department.
------
The former employees allegedly carried out the harassment campaign
in three parts.
They sent items including a preserved fetal pig, a bloody-pig
Halloween mask and a book on surviving the loss of a spouse, the
department said.
Some of the former employees also sent private messages over
Twitter, as well as public tweets, criticizing the newsletter,
according to the department.
In a third phase, the former employees spied on the couple at their
home and community, the department said.
------
On Aug. 15, Mr. Baugh, Mr. Harville and Ms. Zea allegedly drove to
the couple's home with the intent of breaking into their garage and
installing a GPS tracking device on their car.
In the event that they were stopped by police, Mr. Baugh and Mr.
Harville carried false documents purporting to show they were
investigating the couple in connection with threats to eBay
executives, the department said.
The couple, however, detected the covert attempt and notified
police, who began an investigation.
The former employees attempted to interfere with evidence and lied
to the police about eBay's involvement, the department said.
------
The charges Monday cap off a turbulent period for eBay.
Mr. Wenig's departure in September was part of an exodus of eBay
executives and managers last year. The former CEO said at the time
that he had disagreements with eBay's board, which was deliberating
selling assets of the company after pressure from activist investors
Elliott Management Corp. and Starboard Value LP.
EBay, which in April named Walmart Inc. executive Jamie Iannone as
its new CEO, has considered selling its classified-advertising
business, which could be worth $10 billion, The Wall Street Journal
has reported. In February, eBay closed the sale of its StubHub
ticket-sales unit in a $4.05 billion deal with Viagogo Entertainment
Inc.
------
EcommerceBytes writes extensively about eBay. The site published
short posts about several of the executives who recently departed
and also critical takes on actions at the company.
In one post dealing with an eBay lawsuit against Amazon filed last
year, Ms. Steiner wrote that Mr. Wenig, the former eBay CEO,
"demonstrated a lack of appreciation" for third-party sellers who
want to sell on various tech platforms.
In another post in May 2019, the site reported that eBay had built
on its campus an expensive replica of a popular Manhattan bar. The
article noted that Mr. Wenig was a New York City transplant.
"EBay is charging sellers more and offering less (see its 2019
first-quarter financials)" Ms. Steiner wrote. "They might be
wondering what took investors so long to speak up on how the
company's management and board of directors are using the revenue
generated by sellers' fees. Stiff drink, anyone?"
Comments on articles about eBay at times were critical of the
company and its executives.
-------------------------
FROM: MoPo List <[email protected]> on behalf of David
Kusumoto <[email protected]>
SENT: Monday, June 15, 2020 11:36 PM
TO: [email protected] <[email protected]>
SUBJECT: Re: Former eBay employees allegedly used cockroaches,
spiders, and a gruesome mask to harass a couple
The story is on the FRONT PAGE of tomorrow's WSJ - and - on page 1
of Section B in tomorrow's New York Times.
IN THE WSJ STORY, INA AND DAVID ARE NAMED:
"Ina Steiner, the editor of EcommerceBytes and the author of the
posts, as well as her husband David Steiner, didn’t respond to
requests for comment Monday."
The WSJ reports that eBay CEO Devin Wenig texted (about the Ina
Steiner) - "Take her down." At another point, Wenig used an
expletive to refer to the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of eBay,
adding, "The journal is next on the list."
* THE ATTACHED PICTURE IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT WAS SENT TO INA AND
DAVID'S HOME, I.E., A BLOODIED PIG'S HEAD MASK - AND A BOOK
ENTITLED, "SURVIVING THE LOSS OF A SPOUSE."
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/9108/gS8Ps8.jpg [3]
If you hit a paywall, let me know and I - (or anyone else who has
access) - will post the full text later.
--------------------------
TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020
PAGE ONE - FRONT PAGE, A1 - WALL STREET JOURNAL
_JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CHARGES FORMER EBAY STAFF WITH 'CYBERSTALKING
CAMPAIGN'_
