Tech

eBay manager imprisoned for harassment of journalists the CEO wanted to “take down”

A person's hand inserting a key into the lock on a jail-cell door.

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A former auction web sites security manager who pleaded guilty for his role in a cyberstalking conspiracy was sentenced in order to 18 months in prison yesterday.

Philip Cooke, former senior manager of security operations for eBay’s Global Security Team, pleaded guilty in October 2020 to one count of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and one count of conspiracy to commit witness tampering. He was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison on each charge with the two sentences to be served concurrently, according to an order issued in US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He was also fined $15, 000 and sentenced to supervised release of three years after he gets out of prison.

The Department of Justice alleged that, in 2019, Cooke helped plan and attempt to be able to cover up the stalking associated with Ina and David Steiner regarding Natick, Massachusetts, who run the news website EcommerceBytes . Cooke was one of seven eBay employees accused of harassment involving sending threatening messages and deliveries of live cockroaches, the funeral wreath, and a bloody pig mask to the couple’s home. Several conspirators allegedly traveled from California to Massachusetts for you to conduct surveillance on the couple, but Cooke was not among them. Cooke wasn’t included in the initial charges filed in June 2020 but was charged a few weeks later .

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