One of the strangest episodes in the history of e-commerce has come to an end. eBay and several former eBay employees have agreed to pay $56 million to a couple who wrote newsletters and who were targeted by the company’s former executives in a horrific campaign of targeted harassment that took place in 2019.

Ina and David Steiner, a married couple and co-authors of EcommerceBytes, inspired the ire of eBay’s top executives after occasionally criticizing the company in their newsletter. In 2019, a plot was hatched to intimidate the couple and force them to stop their negative coverage.

The executives used sock puppet social media accounts to harass the couple, while sending them anonymous threatening letters and strange items in the mail, including live spiders and cockroaches, pornographic magazines, a bloody pig mask, a funeral wreath, and a book about surviving the death of a spouse.

According to previously released court documents, one plan that was attempted but never successfully carried out involved placing a GPS tracking device on the couple’s car. Yet another plan, floated internally, involved sending a “Samoan gang” to the Steiner home.

This week’s settlement resolves a 2021 civil case filed by the couple against eBay. The law firm representing the Steiners writes that the settlement includes $46.15 million paid to the couple by eBay itself, as well as $2 million from former eBay CEO Devin Wenig.

Additionally, former eBay executive Wendy Jones will pay the couple $500,000, as well as $50,000 from former eBay executive Steve Wymer. Additional funds are being paid to several nonprofit organizations.

In 2022, seven former eBay employees were criminally charged and pleaded guilty in connection with the plot, including the company’s former head of security, James Baugh, who was sentenced to nearly five years in prison. Others charged by the US Department of Justice include David Harville, Brian Gilbert, Stephanie Popp, Stephanie Stockwell, Philip Cooke and former eBay contractor Veronica Zea.

In a statement released Tuesday, eBay disavowed its former employees’ behavior as “not representative of eBay’s culture,” which is comforting, I guess.

“As we have long said, what former eBay employees subjected the Steiners to in 2019 was wrong, it was reprehensible, and it should never have happened,” eBay continued. “We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the employees who perpetrated and pleaded guilty to criminal charges for the misconduct against Ina and David Steiner.”

“We continue to extend our deepest apologies to the Steiners. This settlement is consistent with our commitment to fairly compensate the Steiners and meets our efforts to make things right.”

“This case was always about more than just getting a financial recovery,” said Christopher Murphy, one of the Steiners’ attorneys. “From the beginning, our clients wanted to uncover the truth, protect journalists and editors, hold those responsible accountable, deter future corporate misconduct, and help ensure others never have to endure what they experienced.”