We are Ina and David Steiner, the victims in
United States of America vs. eBay Inc. filed today in federal court in the District of Massachusetts related to what has become known as the 2019 eBay cyberstalking case.
Under a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA), eBay has admitted to a set of facts that the government says proves six felony charges, and eBay will pay a $3 million fine.
An independent overseer will monitor eBay for the next three years to ensure it complies with the agreement. If the company violates the DPA, the Department of Justice will move forward with the 6-count prosecution: Stalking through interstate travel (2 counts); Stalking through electronic communications services (2 counts); Witness tampering; and Obstruction of justice.
As criminal prosecutions in the stalking case played out against eBay's former employees, we have stood before three different judges at 6 separate sentencing hearings and described in detail the impact of the stalking, conspiracy, and obstruction crimes as part of our victim impact statements, with one more hearing for a 7th defendant yet to be scheduled.
With today's Deferred Prosecution Agreement, eBay is not required to stand before a judge for sentencing, but we feel it's important that we, as victims, be heard.
In 2022, we were crushed when we learned the government had not interviewed the top executives at eBay as part of its criminal investigation. As victims of despicable crimes meant to destroy our lives and our livelihood, we felt it was vital to do everything in our power to make sure such a thing never happened to anyone else. eBay's actions against us had a damaging and permanent impact on us - emotionally, psychologically, physically, reputationally, and financially - and we strongly pushed federal prosecutors for further indictments to deter corporate executives and board members from creating a culture where stalking and harassment is tolerated or encouraged.
We launched our news site in 1999 to help regular people and small businesses succeed in selling online - when sellers succeed, so do the platforms on which they sell. We were targeted because we gave eBay sellers a voice and because we reported facts that top executives didn't like publicly laid bare.
Since the government first arrested some of the perpetrators and filed charges in June 2020, we have heard from sellers who are fearful of communicating legitimate concerns to us (or to eBay and other marketplaces) because they fear retaliation. Not only is that devastating to hear, but when sellers are afraid to speak up, it undermines our reporting.
After today's announcement, we remain determined to push for answers and do whatever we possibly can to ensure that no corporation ever feels that the option exists for them to squash a person's First Amendment rights.
It's that important.
In sentencing one of the former eBay employees in 2022, Judge William G. Young, with nearly four decades on the federal bench, told the defendant, "This is one of the most important cases upon which this Court has ever sat. This out-of-control group of which you were a central part is, if not stopped now and stopped completely, an extraordinary danger to our country. Make no doubt about it, the skills that you employed to go cyberstalking are an extreme danger, and when you put those skills to service of some large corporate entity with economic power to go after individuals and squash down their speech, we are all at risk. All of us."
In the interest of disclosure, we and Steiner Associates, LLC, the publisher of EcommerceBytes, filed a civil lawsuit against eBay and its former employees, with a trial date scheduled for March 3, 2025.
Victim Impact Statement in United States of America vs eBay Inc.
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