In this Oct. 17, 2012, file photo, an eBay sign sits in front of the company's headquarters in San Jose, Calif. On Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, federal prosecutors said four former eBay Inc. employees had agreed to plead guilty to their roles in a campaign of intimidation that included sending live spiders and cockroaches to the home of a Massachusetts couple who ran an online newsletter highly critical of the auction site. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
Four former eBay Inc. employees have agreed to plead guilty to their roles in a campaign of intimidation that included sending live spiders and cockroaches to the home of a Massachusetts couple who ran an online newsletter critical of the auction site, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
“Four former employees of #eBay are scheduled to plead guilty on Oct. 8 at 2pm via zoom in federal court in #Boston,” according to a tweet from the official account of the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts. “The defendants are charged w/ participating in a cyberstalking campaign that targeted a Massachusetts couple.”
The four expected to plead guilty are Brian Gilbert, 51; Stephanie Popp, 32; Stephanie Stockwell, 26; and Veronica Zea, 26, according to The Boston Globe.
All live in San Jose, California, except for Stockwell, who lives in Redwood City, California.
They are among seven former eBay employees charged in the case, in which the Massachusetts couple had other disturbing items sent to their home, including a funeral wreath and a bloody pig Halloween mask.
They are all charged with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with a witness. Their lawyers either declined to comment or didn’t immediately return emails seeking comment Wednesday.
The employees also sent pornographic magazines with the husband’s name on them to their neighbor’s house, planned to break into the couple’s garage to install a GPS device on their car, and posted the couple’s names and address online, advertising things like yard sales and encouraging strangers to knock on the door if the pair wasn’t outside, officials said.
The suspects engaged in a “systematic campaign fueled by the resources of a Fortune 500 company to emotionally and psychologically terrorize this middle-aged couple in Natick,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said at a news conference when charges were announced in June.
An internal investigation was launched after San Jose, California-based eBay was notified by law enforcement of “suspicious actions by its security personnel,” company officials wrote in a prepared statement. The employees were ultimately fired, the company said.
Popp was a senior manager of global intelligence at eBay; Gilbert was senior manager of special operations for eBay’s Global Security Team; Stockwell was manager of eBay’s Global Intelligence Center, and Zea was an eBay contractor who worked as an intelligence analyst in the Global Intelligence Center. Authorities say they were working at eBay at the time of the alleged harassment.
Court documents say the couple was targeted after their newsletter published an article in August 2019 about a lawsuit filed by eBay accusing Amazon of poaching its sellers.
While people have been spending more time on their phones throughout the pandemic, a new report shows they were also spending more money as well. A review from Sensor Tower on the global app ecosystem this year found that the app economy will see record consumer spending in 2021, up nearly 20% from 2020. Sensor Tower director of sales and financial institutions Anthony Bartolacci joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to break down the report.
Megan Horneman, Director of Portfolio Strategy at Verdence Capital Advisors, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she says there is some profit-taking ahead of the upcoming Fed meeting, and elaborates on some of the topics investors will be watching for more closely this week.
Markets closed higher Friday, with the S&P 500 notching a record close, even amid data this morning showing inflation rising at a fast pace. Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Advisors, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss today's market close, why markets are shrugging off November's hot inflation data, how the Fed will take CPI into consideration, and more.
The future of gambling in Florida recently suffered a major setback after a federal appeals court rejected a request from the state and the Seminole Tribe to allow online sports betting in the state. Now, the tribe has been forced to stop taking bets on its Hard Rock sportsbook app. ESPN gaming writer David Purdum joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what this could mean for the future of sports betting in Florida.
Apple is on the verge of becoming the world's first publicly-traded $3 trillion company. The iPhone maker's stock needs to hit $182.86 to surpass the $3 trillion mark. CFRA Research senior industry analyst Angelo Zino joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Lance Ippolito, Head Trader at the Future Of Wealth, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell where he discusses the factors that have contributed to the recent slide of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether.
Web3 software startup Thirdweb has raised $5 million in a funding round, coming from a group of high-profile investors, including Gary Vaynerchuk and Mark Cuban. Thirdweb says it is paving the way for the revolution surrounding the new iteration of the internet known as web3, by offering users free tools to build their own web3 projects. Thirdweb's co-founders Steven Bartlett and Furqan Rydhan join Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Decentralized talent network Braintrust recently closed an atypical equity deal that involved investors buying $100 million in Braintrust tokens, the company's cryptocurrency. Braintrust's talent network is built on blockchain technology, which the company says allows it to be owned and built by users, instead of a centrally-controlled corporation. Braintrust users can also earn tokens for their contributions to the network and its growth. Braintrust co-founder Adam Jackson joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Blue Origin launched its third manned mission over the weekend with 'Good Morning America' host Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of astronaut Alan Shepard on board, alongside several Blue Origin investors.
This comes after the spaceflight firm launched two successful missions to the edge of space earlier this year. How will these missions set up Blue Origin for success as it competes with SpaceX and other companies for space tourism domination and more? Joey Roulette, space reporter at The New York Times, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
