Ex-eBay Execs Heading To Prison For Harassing Couple Behind Newsletter (reuters.com) 36
Two former eBay security executives were sentenced to prison on Thursday for carrying out a campaign to harass and intimidate a Massachusetts couple through threats and disturbing home deliveries after their online newsletter drew the ire of the company's then-CEO. From a report: Jim Baugh and David Harville were sentenced to 57 and 24 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in an extensive harassment campaign that involved sending the couple cockroaches, a funeral wreath and a bloody Halloween pig mask. U.S. District Judge Patti Saris, who imposed the sentenced during hearings in Boston, called it a "hard-to-imagine" scheme fueled by a "toxic culture" at the Silicon Valley e-commerce company. "It was extreme and outrageous," Saris said. She ordered Baugh, eBay's former senior director of safety and security, and Harville, its former director of global resiliency, to also pay fines of $40,000 and $20,000, respectively, after pleading guilty to cyberstalking-related charges.
good (Score:4, Insightful)
Those sentences seem light to me. Assholes.
Re: (Score:2)
It's five years, that's quite a long time for sending mailing some cockroaches.
Not to downplay what they've done, but I could beat the shit out of someone causing serious injuries and it'd be under 5 years.
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They will not serve all of that time. I suspect that the victims would have preferred a one-time beating over on-going harassment. Just glad to see the victims prevail in the end, they will get a nice payday too.
Re:good (Score:4, Interesting)
They'll serve almost all of it. There's no parole in the Federal system and at most 15% off for good behavior, and they can take that away for the slightest thing. My prison pen pal lost good behavior time for making a conference call to her kids, for example.
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curious.
if i were vengeful.
what wonders would await these 2 parolees
It wasn't just Cockroaches... (Score:5, Interesting)
It's five years, that's quite a long time for sending mailing some cockroaches.
They also did things like ordering hardcore porn in the victim's name and had it delivered to neighbors, while at the same time making Craigslist ads for sexual encounters. They also mailed books on how to deal with the death of a spouse to the house. Cockroaches and spiders, meh. But they were trying to mess with their marriage, reputations, and making death threats. They can't get enough time.
I could beat the shit out of someone causing serious injuries and it'd be under 5 years.
There are a couple of eBay execs that could use it.
As an aside, the headlines are all saying "Former eBay execs". While yes, they have subsequently been fired, they were very much actively employed at the time. While the headlines aren't wrong, they should be changed to make it clear they were eBay execs at the time of the harassment. How about "Subsequently-fired eBay execs getting prison time for egregious harassment on behalf of company"
We should be holding eBay's feet to the fire for this too. Please raise your hand if you think this all happened in a vacuum. Anyone?
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I don't disagree. However, the Reuters article ends with "A lawsuit by the Steiners against eBay, [at-the-time CEO] Wenig and others remains pending." That's a lawsuit, not a criminal proceeding, but it is an avenue for justice.
How stupid do you have to be... (Score:2)
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Well, to be fair we don't know what he did in the CIA. Although he worked (possibly as an IT guy?) for the Clandestine branch, he was obviously not trained in trade craft.
While the couple did get the license plate of the rental car, ultimately it was simply reporting this to the police, who realizing that this was being done across state lines brought in the FBI. The stunts like sending pig fetus and boxes of live cockroaches left a trail, since the companies providing these things had to be paid -- someth
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Arrogance is the stupidity of the clever and the privileged.
Re:So much for the narrative⦠(Score:5, Insightful)
It isn't the rich people going to jail, just some moderately well off people. The charges stopped below the C-suite, sparing the C level manager who directly instructed the "Global Intelligence Center" to use "any means necessary" to destroy this couple.
butthurt (Score:1)
You are only butthurt about politics because you are not very bright. These ease with which you are manipulated is actually scary.
Re:So much for the narrative⦠(Score:4, Informative)
While you're at it, inform us why the CEO who ordered the hit didn't get the same sentence. Maybe it's different in the US, but over here, if you order a crime, you're doing the time just as the one who executes your order.
Evil Company Culture (Score:3)
They got off WAY to easy. Since they did it as company officer's The company should share in the penalty.
The superior man understands what is right.
The inferior man understands what will sell.
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There is still a civil suit pending, and eBay is named in it. (Or did you want eBay itself to go to prison?)
Re: Evil Company Culture (Score:4, Interesting)
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Why not? Corporations are people, too!
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They're going to prison for a few years and they'll probably be unable to get a good job (convicted felons) when they get out. The guys going to prison will probably be sued into bankruptcy by the victims. I kind of get what you're saying, but given that there's people convicted of voluntary manslaughter who get similar sentences, I don't think the judge went light here. These guys have effectively had their lives destroyed as a consequence for their actions and I'm not sure that additional time in priso
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and they'll probably be unable to get a good job (convicted felons) when they get out.
Oh please. People at that level always find a way to get a job, regardless of their crime. There's always someone who will hire them because of their "expertise". Remember Michael Milken?
If it was you or I then yes, we would most likely not be able to get a good job when we got out. But then, we aren't/weren't executives at a high profile company.
What about the CEO (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: What about the CEO (Score:1)
Didn't do anything wrong in this case, the evidenc (Score:4)
DOJ investigated, reading emails and text messages between the people involved. They charged six people who WERE involved. There's no evidence that the CEO knew about what they were doing. They didn't charge people who didn't weren't involved in the wrongdoing.
When the PR head texted the CEO about the things the couple were saying, the CEO said :
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It's cool, don't worry.
You know this comes with the territory and it's part of running a consumer company.
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The CEO was telling the PR person to chill out, don't worry about it - people will criticize the company and that's just how it is. Is that a crime?
Witnesses "were in agreement that they never witnessed Wenig say or do anything that would make them think he would approve or tolerate the alleged criminal activity." (Vox.com)
A third party who investigated on behalf of the board found OTHER messages unrelated to this which influenced the decision that he would no longer be part of the company.
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Ah yes. The Bart Simpson defense [youtube.com].
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CEO was two levels above the guy who orchestrated this. The Chief Communications Officer who was in charge of the time was fired and is now the CEO of the Silicon Valley Boys and Girls Club.
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That's rich! Will be interesting to see how it plays out...
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Re: the company's then-CEO (Score:1)
I don't get it (Score:2)