eBay to pay P167 million settlement after employees shipped live spiders and cockroaches to couple
eBay has been ordered to pay P167 million for criminal complaints in connection to their employees who shipped live cockroaches and spiders to a couple that criticized the e-commerce giant online.
According to a report by PEOPLE Magazine, lawyer Joshua S. Levy said the online retailing 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," he added.
The US Department of Justice said in a press release that eBay agreed to pay to settle criminal charges, including two counts of stalking through interstate travel, two counts of stalking through electronic communications services, one count of witness tampering, and one count of obstruction of justice.
The harassment began when Jim Baugh, former Senior Director of Safety and Security, and six other members of the security team got upset about a newsletter's coverage for eBay, which was published by the couple. The pair claimed that eBay "had been unable to stop a decline in market sales, but trying to dissuade sellers from turning to Amazon (and trying to get Amazon to stop recruiting sellers) may not be the best tactic."
AP News reported that the staff took revenge by sending the couple "disgusting objects," including funeral wreaths, a bloody pig Halloween mask, and a book on surviving the death of a spouse, aside from the live cockroaches and spiders. Pornographic materials were also sent to their neighborhood with the husband’s name on them.
The victims contacted the authorities to report the incident.
In a statement, they talked about the “damaging and permanent impact” it had on them “emotionally, psychologically, physically, reputationally, and financially.”
“We were targeted because we gave eBay sellers a voice and because we reported facts that top executives didn't like publicly laid bare,” they said.
Baugh has been sentenced to 57 months in prison while the six other employees are facing 12 to 18 months of imprisonment with one year of home confinement.
eBay, for its part, released a statement earlier this week expressing their frustration about what their former employees did and taking responsibility for their conduct.