Natick Couple's eBay Lawsuit Now Interests Federal Agencies

NATICK, MA — Ina and David Steiner's lawsuit against eBay had been moving rather swiftly through the courts, but recent revelations about the ringleader of the harassment efforts against them may be throwing them a curveball.

Jim Baugh is the company's former Senior Director of Safety and Security. In 2019 he pleaded guilty to charges that he was behind the harassment campaign, and in 2022 was sentenced to 57 months in prison.

But before he worked for eBay, Baugh previously wrote that he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service, and continued to help with the agency, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, even after he joined the private sector.

Baugh wrote a multi-page letter detailing his services to the government agencies before he was sentenced and, The Boston Globe first reported, that the letter has been sealed as the Justice Department attempts to keep some aspects of Baugh's work with the agencies secret.

eBay's top officials have said they are unaware of Baugh's work with the agencies. But this week, the DOJ said it reviewed answers from the company and eBay's former CEO Devin Wenig and wrote to the judge in the matter that, although none of the answers given by company executives contained information the government wanted kept out of court, a corporate response included information they believe needs to be protected and kept out of the public eye.

US District Judge Patti Saris, the person overseeing the case, hasn't commented or ruled on that letter.

eBay recently agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty for its part in the harassment and intimidation campaign against the Steiners, officials announced today.

eBay was charged criminally with 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 and has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement.

As part of the agreement, eBay admitted to the alleged conduct and agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $3 million. The company will also be required to retain an independent corporate compliance monitor for three years and "to make extensive enhancements to its compliance program," officials said.

Read more: eBay To Pay $3 Million In Cyberstalking Campaign Against Natick Couple

According to eBay’s admissions, between approximately Aug. 5, 2019 and Aug. 23, 2019, Baugh and six other members of eBay’s security team targeted the Steiners for their roles in publishing an eBay-centric newsletter.

Baugh and his co-conspirators executed a harassment campaign intended to intimidate the victims and to change the content of the newsletter’s reporting.

The campaign included sending anonymous and disturbing deliveries to the victims’ home, including a book on surviving the death of a spouse, a bloody pig mask, a fetal pig and a funeral wreath and live insects; sending private Twitter messages and public tweets criticizing the newsletter’s content and threatening to visit the victims in Natick; and traveling to Natick to surveil the victims and install a GPS tracking device on their car, officials said.

The harassment also featured Craigslist posts inviting the public for sexual encounters at the Steiner’s home.

The victims spotted the surveillance team and contacted local police. After learning of the Natick Police Department’s investigation, Baugh made false statements to police and internal investigators, and he and his team deleted digital evidence related to the cyberstalking campaign and falsified records intended to throw the police off the trail, officials said.

The seven convicted eBay employees and contractors include Baugh, who was sentenced to 57 months in prison in September 2022; David Harville, former Director of Global Resiliency, who was sentenced to 24 months in prison in September 2022; Stephanie Popp, former Senior Manager of Global Intelligence, who was sentenced to 12 months in prison in October 2022; Philip Cooke, a former Senior Manager of Security Operations, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison and 12 months of home confinement in July 2021; Stephanie Stockwell and Veronica Zea, a former Manager of Global Intelligence and a contract intelligence analyst, respectively, who were each sentenced to one year in home confinement in October and November 2022.