James Baugh, previous safety and security director under eBay has altered his plea arrangement to be guilty in court on Tuesday, Apr. 19th. The defendant was charged in 2019 for leading a cyberstalking ring alongside several other key eBay employees across the globe targeting media site eCommerceBytes and its two main faces, couple Ina and David Steiner.
The dilemma first began when Ina Steiner ran pieces in a newsletter under eCommerceBytes that was highly critical of eBay's CEO at the time, Devin Wenig. Among the many articles, Ina even highlighted the ex-executive compensation package of $57 million following his departure from eBay in September of 2019, when the harassment campaign surfaced.
Angered by the posts, Wenig sought to scare and demoralize the reporter, which is apparent via a text sent from the former CEO to then-communications chief Steve Wymer that read, "Take her down." Both Wymer and Wenig have yet to be charged due to "a pretty far-reaching [PowerPoint] presentation to avoid prosecution...and somehow let the CEO and C-suite executives skate with the government," argued Baugh's defense attorney William Fick amid trial in January.
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The Steiner couple filed a lawsuit against both former employees and eBay itself in 2021. Baugh was meant to appear in court in May, yet Fick moved to alter his defendant's plea arrangement with a federal judge on Tuesday, according to court documents. Alongside Baugh, an additional former eBay employee, David Harville, will likewise appear in court in May for his alleged involvement in the cyberstalking scheme.
Harville, eBay's former global resiliency director, and Baugh are seemingly set up to be the main scapegoats, so posit the duo's defense attorneys. Five other eBay employees have also been charged with aiding the intimidation campaign, some of which were intended to testify against Baugh for lighter sentences. All five have already pleaded guilty.
According to federal prosecutors, the cyberstalking was experienced via various unsolicited letters and packages, which included foul items within, like a bloody pig mask and a preserved fetal pig. One box reportedly even contained a survival book on getting over the death of a spouse coupled with a funeral wreath. The Steiner couple even claims that Baugh appeared at their house in Massachusetts to attach a GPS device to their vehicle.
Wenig has adamantly maintained uninvolvement in the campaign. Both Baugh and Harville soon took up their own legal counsel after supposedly being misrepresented by eBay's internal legal department.
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