Six eBay executives and others are arrested on suspicion of sending 'bloody pig mask' to journalists

by Kazuhisa OTSUBO

Six former eBay employees, including executives, were arrested and charged with threatening journalists by sending bloody pig Halloween masks, cockroaches, and funeral garlands.

Six Former eBay Employees Charged with Aggressive Cyberstalking Campaign Targeting Natick Couple | USAO-MA | Department of Justice
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/six-former-ebay-employees-charged-aggressive-cyberstalking-campaign-targeting-natick

eBay execs sent roaches and “bloody pig mask” to harass journalists, feds say | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/06/ebay-execs-sent-cockroaches-and-bloody-pig-mask-to-harass-journalists-feds/

6 eBay Employees Charged With Sending Bloody Pig Mask To Natick Couple – CBS Boston
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/06/15/ebay-employees-arrested-us-attorney-andrew-lelling-cyberstalking/

A series of indictments were charged with James Bowe (45), senior director of eBay's Safety & Security division, David Harville (48), director of global resilience, and Global Intelligence. Senior Manager Stephanie Pop (age 32), Global Intelligence Center Division (GIC) manager Stephanie Stockwell (age 26), GIC Intelligence Analyst Veronica Zia (age 26), Global Security Team These are Brian Gilberd, 51, who was a senior manager in the Special Operations Department at.

The victims were two people from Natick, Massachusetts, who published an online newsletter for e-commerce companies. Six of the eBay employees launched a series of intimidations, saying they didn't like what they posted in the email magazine.

At the start of intimidation in August 2019, it was supposed to write a message such as 'It's time to delete' 'I hope this woman will be crushed' in the comment section of the newsletter, but the intimidation act gradually Intensification. The Massachusetts District Justice Department has launched a series of intimidating acts described as a 'three-part harassment campaign.'

The first part of this harassment campaign was 'harassment by delivery.' The six sent in bloody pig Halloween masks, cockroaches, a book titled 'How to Get Over Your Spousal Loss,' and a funeral wreath. The cockroaches were used as food for pets, and they were sent in boxed boxes by professional breeders.

The following are the real bloody pig Halloween masks and books released by the FBI Boston Office.

As alleged, the extensive harassment campaign launched by these six @eBayemployees included sending embarrassing & disturbing deliveries to the Natick couple's home, including a bloody pig mask, sympathy wreath, a book on how to survive the loss of a spouse, & live insects. pic.twitter.com/U2d1fgsLJD

— FBI Boston (@FBIBoston) June 15, 2020

The second part of the campaign is 'intimidation by online message' such as criticizing the contents of the newsletter and sending a message to the two victims on Twitter that 'I will attack your home'. Gilbird had a history of being an inspector in Santa Clara, California, and the six are believed to have had the aim of 'intimidating the victim to'consult the former inspector''. ..

And the third part of the campaign was 'Stalking the Victims' Home.' On August 15, 2019, the criminal group falsely called 'Software Development Conference' to eBay, moved to the victim's house by car, and monitored the victim. The plan was to break into the garage and install a GPS tracking device in the car, but the victim discovered a suspicious observer and reported it to the police.

Six people were aware of police investigations and committed crimes, making false reports to the police about eBay's involvement, making false reports to eBay's lawyers to interfere with the investigation, or directly to the victim's house. When I went, I knew I was carrying a fake document saying, 'I was investigating a person who was suspected of intimidating an eBay executive.'

James Bowe and David Harville have been arrested at the time of the Justice Department's announcement on June 15, 2020. The remaining four are expected to appear in a federal court in Boston at a later date when the charges are filed.

Six people will be charged with the crimes of collusion of cyber stalking and witness alteration, respectively, and imprisonment for not more than 5 years and supervised release for 3 years, fine of 250,000 dollars (about 27 million yen), Compensation claims are expected to be imposed.

For this one case, eBay has issued an official statement 'about prosecution of previously retired employees.' After the incident was discovered, he hired an outside legal counsel to conduct an in-house investigation to dismiss all employees involved in the incident and eBay himself and his current employee were not charged. did.

eBay Inc. Issues Statement Regarding Indictments of Previously Terminated Employees
https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/news/ebay-inc-issues-statement-regarding-indictments-of-previously-terminated-employees/

eBay said, 'We did a quick and thorough investigation, took appropriate action, and cooperated fully and extensively during the law enforcement period throughout the process. We apologize to the victims and say that this incident has occurred. 'EBay maintains a high standard of conduct and ethics for its employees and takes appropriate steps to comply with these standards and ethics.'