A Massachusetts couple who said they were subjected to threats and bizarre anonymous deliveries reached a settlement in their lawsuit against eBay, according to court proceedings referenced by the Associated Press. The couple, David and Ina Steiner of Natick, alleged that former eBay employees engaged in a campaign meant to “intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them” to “stifle their reporting on eBay.”
In Wednesday’s proceedings, Boston U.S. District Judge Patti Saris dismissed the case after the parties settled. The dismissal came with an added procedural step: the order allows either side to reopen the case within 60 days if the agreement is not finalized, AP reported.
The parties did not disclose the terms of the settlement. An eBay spokesperson pointed to the court order for comment and said the company had nothing further to add, according to the AP report.
When the Steiners filed their lawsuit in 2021 in Boston federal court, they said the harassment included cyberstalking, death threats, and in-person surveillance by former eBay workers. The Steiners also described their newsletter work as the trigger for the alleged campaign, saying their coverage of eBay brought retaliation.
The allegations tie to a separate federal criminal case. In 2020, federal prosecutors charged seven former eBay employees, alleging they carried out a coordinated harassment campaign against the couple after becoming angered by the couple’s online newsletter coverage.
According to federal prosecutors, the harassment included anonymous deliveries such as live cockroaches and spiders, a funeral wreath, and a bloody pig face Halloween mask. Prosecutors also alleged that the employees sent pornographic magazines with the husband’s name to a neighbor’s home and planned to break into the couple’s garage to install a GPS device on their car.
Most of the defendants pleaded guilty to charges that included conspiracy and cyberstalking, and later received prison sentences or home confinement, AP reported. In 2024, eBay agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty under a deferred prosecution agreement with federal authorities, as described in the AP report.
The settlement in the civil case resolves the lawsuit the Steiners brought over the same alleged pattern of threats and deliveries, while leaving the dismissal subject to reopening within the 60-day window set by Judge Saris’s order.