Brilliant career move, former Ebayers

There's a couple in Natick, a Boston suburb, who run a website/newsletter/blog devoted to eCommerce. And, quite naturally, one of their frequent subjects is eBay. And, quite naturally, some of what they write about is less than favorable. And, quite naturally, this annoyed some folks at eBay who didn't like what they were reading. And, quite unnaturally, some of these folks (senior members of the eBay security team) decided to resort to some pretty unsavory - criminal, even - tactics to get back at the couple from Natick. 

The tactics were a combination of petty, dramatic, juvenile, and outright vicious.

So, quite naturally, those eBay over-reactors (all now former eBay employees) have been indicted and arrested. 

Joseph Bonavolonta, the FBI special agent in charge of the case, said the group was inspired by the movie "Johnny Be Good."(NBC News)

"Johnny Be Good", huh? A 1988 comedy about a high school ath-a-lete? The one with a soundtrack that includes a song by Ted Nugent? That "Johnny Be Good"? Be careful about where you look for inspiration.

Anyway, the eBay Six ordered a bunch of nasty stuff to be delivered to the Natick couple:

...everything from live spiders, a box of cockroaches, a preserved pig fetus, a pig mask, to a sympathy wreath and book on how to survive the loss of a spouse," Bonavolonta said.

"All the while, they were hiding behind the internet, using burner phones and laptops, overseas email accounts, and pre-paid debit cards purchased with cash, to try and cover up their crimes and evade and obstruct the Natick Police Department," Bonavolonta added. 

The eBay Six's strategy was a combo of harrassing deliveries, threatening messages, and things that went way above and beyond (including a foiled attempt to put a GPS tracker on the couple's car, and defacing their property), to be followed by the eBay malfactors "contact[ing] the couple so they could proclaim that eBay noticed the harassment and offered to help them get out of the threatening environment eBay itself created."

A variation on the good cop-bad cop themes known as a White Knight Strategy. Maybe more like those arsonists who hang around the fires they set trying to help the firefighters put them out.

Too bad it backfired. Check and mate.

These eBay folks were really something. Andrew Lelling is the US Attorney for Boston:

According to Lellling, the now-fired eBay officials also sent items including pornography to the couple’s neighbors in the couple’s names, posted listings on Craigslist urging swingers and couples to come to the Natick couples’ home to party every night after 10 pm, and created fake social media accounts to send messages to the couple including one that said, “do I have your attention now?” (Source: Boston Globe)

The six FORMER member so eBay's global security 
team who made up eBay Six include a former cop, a fellow with a BA in Criminology - where he was obviously paying close attention in the classes on criminality, and a former US Army Captain who'd worked for the DOJ. 

Law, meet disorder. 

Devin Wenig, eBay's CEO until last September, also got a look. He'd made some disparaging remarks about the Natick couplethat made their way to the security team. His remarks were deemed "inappropriate," but there's no evidence tying him to advance knowledge of the eBay Six's crime spree. (It seems that his tangential involvement may have been part - but only part - of the reason that Wenig and eBay parted company.)

Who knows whether any of the eBay Six will end up in prison. But maybe they should have been paying more attention to Barretta rather than to "Johnny Be Good." Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. 

Anyway, I'd say that the behavior of this crew will definitely prove career-limiting. What a bunch!