Ex-eBay Manager Jailed For 18 Months After Role In Cyberbullying Campaign

Philip Cooke the former senior manager of security operations at eBay’s Global Security Team was sentenced to 18 months in prison this week for his role in the cyberstalking/bullying campaign against an eCommerce blog website.

Cooke pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and one count of conspiracy to commit witness tampering back in October 2020 and was sentenced to 18 months for each offense which he will be served concurrently.

According to the court documents, he was also fined $15,000, sentenced to a supervised release for 3 years once he is out of prison, and whilst in prison it is recommended that he participates in the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) due to his history with substance abuse.

More Ex-eBay Employees Set For Sentencing

Whilst Philip Cooke is the first, he certainly won’t be the last as there are four more ex-eBay employees that also pleaded guilty to the same charges back in October 2020 who are scheduled for sentencing in September this year. We will see whether they will receive the same sentencing as Cooke or whether there is evidence that would alter the severity of the punishment in the eyes of the judge.

The remaining four are Brian Gilbert, former senior manager of special operations for eBay’s Global Security Team, Stephanie Stockwell, former manager of eBay’s Global Intelligence Center, Stephanie Popp, eBay’s former senior manager of Global Intelligence, and Veronica Zea, a former eBay contractor who was an intelligence analyst in eBay Global Intelligence.

There is also eBay’s former Senior Director of Safety & Security James Baugh and former Director of Global Resiliency David Harville who both pleaded not guilty to the charges however they are both still facing charges.

There is still the issue of former CEO Devin Wenig and former CCO Steve Wymer. Wenig left the company rather abruptly and was handed a $57 Million severance package and Wymer also left the company at a similar time. In their latest lawsuit, David & Ina Steiner have named both Wenig and Wymer and others as defendants.

The lawsuit states that David and Ina now suffer “permanent psychological trauma and damage” because of the cyberstalking, which has negatively affected their ability to operate their business and impacted their livelihood. The Steiners allege that Wenig and Wymer “provided the other Defendants with carte blanche authority to terminate the reporting of the Steiners by whatever means necessary.”

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