Show Notes
When a Fortune 500 Company Became the HarasserCriminal Mischief – eBay's Campaign of Intimidation
What happens when one of the world's largest technology companies decides it doesn't like what a journalist is writing?
For one Massachusetts couple, the answer was months of harassment, surveillance, intimidation, and psychological warfare.
This week on Criminal Mischief, Carolyn Ossorio investigates one of the strangest corporate crime stories in recent American history: the federal criminal case against eBay and the extraordinary campaign carried out against the publishers of the online newsletter EcommerceBytes.
When Ina and David Steiner published articles critical of eBay's leadership and business practices, company executives didn't simply issue a statement or dispute the reporting. Instead, members of eBay's own Global Security team launched an astonishing harassment campaign designed to terrorize the couple into silence.
Anonymous threats.
Late-night deliveries.
Disturbing packages.
Constant surveillance.
Online intimidation.
And plans that investigators would later describe as escalating far beyond anything anyone expected from a publicly traded corporation.
Using courtroom recordings, police interviews, FBI evidence, witness testimony, and the defendants' own admissions, Carolyn reconstructs the conspiracy from its inception through the federal investigation, guilty pleas, and sentencing of those involved. Along the way, she explores the corporate culture that allowed the campaign to flourish, the executives who authorized it, and the legal questions that continue to surround one of Silicon Valley's most shocking scandals.
At its heart, this isn't simply a story about corporate misconduct.
It's about the freedom of the press, the abuse of power, and what can happen when criticism becomes something an organization believes must be eliminated instead of answered.
Because sometimes the most dangerous criminals don't wear masks.
They wear employee badges.
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