SAN
JOSE, Calif., Jan. 11,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) today
stated that it has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement
with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts with respect to actions taken in
2019 by former eBay employees against Ina
and David Steiner. As set forth in the agreement, eBay takes
responsibility for the misconduct of its former employees.
"The company's conduct in 2019 was wrong and reprehensible,"
said Jamie Iannone, Chief Executive
Officer at eBay. "From the moment eBay first learned of the
2019 events, eBay cooperated fully and extensively with law
enforcement authorities. We continue to extend our deepest
apologies to the Steiners for what they endured. Since these events
occurred, new leaders have joined the company and eBay has
strengthened its policies, procedures, controls and training. eBay
remains committed to upholding high standards of conduct and ethics
and to making things right with the Steiners."
In August 2019, eBay was notified
by law enforcement of suspicious actions by certain members of its
security team and immediately launched a comprehensive
investigation, which was conducted with the assistance of outside
legal counsel.
The U.S. Attorney's Office has acknowledged that eBay provided
extensive cooperation to the Government during the course of its
parallel investigation. Specifically, as noted in the deferred
prosecution agreement, the Company's cooperation included
"proactively disclosing certain evidence of which the United States was previously unaware;
providing information obtained through its internal investigation,
which allowed the government to preserve and obtain evidence as
part of its own independent investigation; making detailed factual
presentations to the U.S. Attorney's Office; voluntarily
facilitating interviews of employees; and collecting and producing
voluminous relevant documents to the U.S. Attorney's Office."
Under the three-year deferred prosecution agreement, eBay has
agreed that the U.S. Attorney's Office will file a six-count
criminal Information in the United
States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the U.S. Attorney has agreed
to defer any prosecution of eBay on those counts. During the
agreement's three-year term, eBay will continue to cooperate fully
with the U.S. Attorney's Office and will be subject to an
independent compliance monitor to assess its compliance program
and, where appropriate, to modify that program. eBay will also be
required to pay a $3,000,000 penalty.
If eBay successfully meets its obligations under the deferred
prosecution agreement, after three years, the agreement will
expire, and the U.S. Attorney has agreed to dismiss the criminal
Information against eBay.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains
forward-looking statements, including, among other things,
statements relating to eBay's deferred prosecution agreement and
the potential dismissal by the U.S. Attorney of the criminal
Information against eBay. Such forward-looking statements are based
on eBay's current expectations and assumptions and involve risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from such expectations. Such risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, the factors discussed under the
captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in eBay's most
recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports
on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by visiting eBay's
Investor Relations website at https://investors.ebayinc.com or the
Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov. Undue
reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements in
this press release, which are based on information available to
eBay on the date hereof. eBay assumes no obligation to update such
statements.
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SOURCE eBay Inc.