eBay sent bloody pig mask and other macabre deliveries to journalists' home.

eBay and three former executives agreed to pay nearly $56 million in a settlement over a macabre campaign of cyberstalking and harassment that targeted two journalists in 2019.

As we’ve previously written, the case involved deliveries of live cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a book about surviving the loss of a spouse, and a bloody pig mask to the home of a couple who run a news website. There were also harassing messages sent via email and Twitter, and an attempt to install a GPS tracking device on the victims’ car. Criminal charges resulted in guilty pleas and prison terms for former eBay employees.

  • Telorand@reddthat.comEnglish
    110·
    2 months ago

    This is class warfare. The wealthy thought they could get away with targeted harassment just because they’re used to getting their way, and they know there’s two tiers of justice.

    I’m glad the journalists won, as they should have, but there is an ever-growing list of regular people who didn’t.

    • Bloefz@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      And there are two tiers, most of them didn’t even get charged with criminal charges.

    • NKBTN@feddit.ukEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      “The Wealthy” here is one guy, who got employees to do it, and he is not only not in jail, he got tens of millions when he left eBay after the court case started.

      The Wealth lt DID get away with it. Their goons didnt

  • magnetosphere@fedia.io
    26·
    2 months ago

    I’m kinda curious about the stooges who did these things. Who would be stupid enough to commit crimes on behalf of a company? Did they seriously expect the company to go to bat for them if things went bad? They must have been drinking a LOT of eBay Kool Aid.

  • triptrapper@lemmy.worldEnglish
    23·
    2 months ago

    Ooh, Casefile did a great podcast ep on this. Episode 306. (If you’re not familiar, Casefile is the gold standard for true crime. It’s not exploitative or voyeuristic. Just stories of notable crimes and their investigations, with plenty of awful police work and miscarriages of justice.)

    • Dozzi92@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      This seems so out of place with Casey’s normal material. My wife was a big, big fan for a long time, everything seemed murdery to an outsider like me. The first one she showed me ended up being one guy one hammer, and lemme tell you, it was almost cathartic to know that that video I had watched a decade prior at least ended with them being caught.

      • triptrapper@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        That’s the one episode I haven’t been able to listen to. The video was so traumatic as a young kid. Haunting.

  • BeUnique@lemmy.zipEnglish
    21·
    2 months ago

    Weird that there’s no mention of what these people reported on that got them to receive said threats.

    • snoons@lemmy.caEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      It does near the end:

      The harassment was allegedly spurred in part by an April 2019 article titled, “eBay CEO Devin Wenig Earns 152 Times That of Employees.”

    • nickiwest@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      2 months ago

      The harassment was allegedly spurred in part by an April 2019 article titled, “eBay CEO Devin Wenig Earns 152 Times That of Employees.” An FBI affidavit included messages exchanged between Wenig and Wymer about that article and other coverage of eBay by EcommerceBytes. Wenig, identified in the affidavit as “Executive 1,” told Wymer to “take her down,” in reference to Ina Steiner.

      Is … Is that it? They reported information from eBay’s public filing with the SEC, therefore eBay needed to take them down? What petty trash.

  • eyesaremosaics@lemmy.zipEnglish
    6·
    2 months ago

    If eBay, Amazon and Facebook are all cesspits, where can you buy stuff online in a decent way? Search small shops individually?

    • AlteredEgo@lemmy.mlEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      Huh, maybe we need a fedishop network that is non profit and works for the interests of customers. Well and sellers, but not for profit for itself.

    • general_kitten@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      small/medium shops have worked for me for the most part, only time I’ve had to use amazon in the last 10 years was for a replacement screen for a phone.

      tho i dont live in america so have no idea if there is enough small stores to buy stuff from but i guess one should at least try buy from those whenever possible