'Crush this lady': how eBay harassment campaign led to $56M payout(www.ft.com)
67 pointsby JumpCrisscross2 hours ago6 comments
  • haunteran hour ago
    Brian Gilbert, 56, of San Jose, Calif., former Senior Manager of Special Operations for eBay’s Global Security Team, was sentenced to time served, one year of supervised release with the special condition that he have no contact with either of the victims in the case and a $20,000 fine

    Jim Baugh, 47, of San Jose, Calif., eBay’s former Senior Director of Safety and Security, was sentenced to 57 months in prison

    David Harville, 50, of Las Vegas, Nev., former Director of Global Resiliency, was sentenced to 24 months in prison

    Stephanie Popp, 34, of Louisville, Ky., former Senior Manager of Global Intelligence, was sentenced to 12 months in prison

    Philip Cooke, 56, of San Jose, Calif., a former Senior Manager of Security Operations, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and 12 months of home confinement

    Stephanie Stockwell, 28, of Redwood City, Calif., a former Manager of Global Intelligence, was sentenced to one year in home confinement

    Veronica Zea, 28, of San Jose, Calif., a contract intelligence analyst, was sentenced to one year in home confinement

    https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/final-defendant-ebay-cybe...

    • happytoexplainan hour ago
      No consequences for executives, and yet their ostensibly enormous responsibility is how their salaries and benefits are always justified.
      • jimnotgym40 minutes ago
        What I really don't understand is why the security people who sent to jail didn't drop their boss in it in return for diminishing their role
    • robotswantdataan hour ago
      When will the executives face criminal trial too?

      “ The seven members of eBay’s security team were all criminally charged and sentenced to prison, home confinement or time served.

      Other executives went on to other corporate jobs. Wymer and Wenig left eBay in September 2019, before the charges were filed. The following year, Wymer was appointed chief of the non-profit Boys and Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley. Wenig has been on General Motors’ board since 2018 and now runs an AI start-up. Jones remained at eBay until 2020 and now sits on Prudential Financial’s board.

      The Steiners sued the trio and other former executives along with the company in the case that led to the $56mn payout. Under the terms of the settlement, Wenig agreed to pay $2mn, Jones must contribute $500,000 and Wymer $50,000, according to the pair’s lawyers.”

    • 12_throw_awayan hour ago
      And on the other hand, let's see how the C-suite made out:

        Wymer was appointed chief of the non-profit Boys and Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley. Wenig has been on General Motors’ board since 2018 and now runs an AI start-up. Jones remained at eBay until 2020 and now sits on Prudential Financial’s board.
      (These were the Chief Communication Officer, CEO, and SVP for Global Operations, respectively)
      • JumpCrisscrossan hour ago
        > Wymer was appointed chief of the non-profit Boys and Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley

        Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley lists its corporate donors as including Alliance Roofing · Amgen Foundation · Applied Materials · ASML · Comcast · Deloitte · EY · First Tech Federal Credit Union · Fremont Bank Foundation · Groundworks · Microsoft · NetApp · Peninsula Building Materials (PBM) · Project Learn / Panda Cares · Rite Aid Healthy Futures. If you work at or with any of these, flag this reporting to them.

        The organization also appears to work with the City of San Jose and the Morgan Hill school district. (An abusive alleged excon running a kids’ charity is absurd to the point of being hilarious. Whoever was supposed to vet him for hiring should also find a new calling.)

        • cogogo26 minutes ago
          I adore our local boys and girls club, our kids are there every weekday and they adore it too. We have donated a little bit of money monthly for almost a decade. I do not love the big money vanity donors but they are what make the place tick.

          This is another level… I would be so angry if this clown were running our metro area. I feel obligated to write letters to all of those donors even though we are on the other coast.

  • evan_an hour ago
    I assume this has been investigated but it's difficult to believe this stopped at one pair of critics. There are plenty of people online critical of eBay. Were they running similar campaigns on anyone else?

    > Seven members of eBay’s security team, including former police captains, “worked together to harass and intimidate the Steiners”, according to prosecutors.

    I hope someone's looking into the careers of the "former police captains" here. Again, difficult to believe they just woke up one day and decided to fly cross-country to vandalize someone's house with no prior history of intimidation.

  • dredmorbiusan hour ago
    There've been a few recent submissions of this story over the past week or so, but none with significant discussion.

    <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49079244> (6 comments) had the most activity.

    So no, this wouldn't count as a dupe.

  • inigyou24 minutes ago
    Good to know I can buy FT Digital Edition for undefined per month to read this article.
  • charcircuit34 minutes ago
    [flagged]
    • marcelox8621 minutes ago
      What an insane thing to say
    • inigyou19 minutes ago
      a felony is still a felony if you do it on the internet
      • charcircuit15 minutes ago
        Trying to resolve online drama through the real world legal system is not considered honorable.
        • jknoepfler3 minutes ago
          What in the hell is that supposed to mean? 7 members of the security team of a mega corporation cooperated in a sustained, coordinated, criminal campaign to intimidate journalists critical of eBay.

          The journalists, well within their rights, went to the law.

          The state brought criminal charges against the 7 employees, and they served/are serving time.

          The journalists further brought a civil complaint, and were compensated handsomely.

    • lucasrufkahr21 minutes ago
      no way you’re serious