“Smokeveil” is a dark-pop confession about the quiet terror of being truly seen.
The song follows someone who has learned to survive by masking their real self behind a haze of half-truth.

Smokeveil

"Whatever It Takes" is a narrative concept album based on the true story of the 2019 eBay cyberstalking scandal - when a Fortune 500 company's security team launched a coordinated terror campaign against two bloggers who wrote critical coverage.

Ina and David Steiner ran EcommerceBytes, a small newsletter covering e-commerce from their home in Natick, Massachusetts. When Ina wrote about CEO Devin Wenig's compensation, he texted his Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer: "If we are ever going to take her down..now is the time."

Wymer's responses became evidence:

> We are going to crush this lady
> She is biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN
> I want to see ashes. As long as it takes. Whatever it takes.

What followed was a "campaign of terror" - seven eBay security employees (including former police captains) sent bloody pig masks, a preserved fetal pig, live cockroaches and spiders, a funeral wreath, a book about surviving the death of a spouse, and porn magazines to the couple. They posted Craigslist ads inviting strangers to the Steiners' home. They flew from California to Boston to stalk their car and planned to break into their garage to plant a GPS tracker. They carried fake "Person of Interest" documents. One even pretended to rescue them - the "White Knight Strategy."

David photographed a license plate. The FBI got involved. All seven employees were convicted.

But the executives who gave the orders? The CEO walked away with $57 million in severance. Never charged.

This is a story about corporate power, surveillance turned against citizens, and the two-tier justice system.

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TRACKLIST

00. Prologue: Based on True Events
01. EcommerceBytes
02. The Article
03. Crush This Lady
04. Whatever It Takes
05. Pig Mask
06. The Natick Job
07. Person of Interest
08. White Knight
09. License Plate
10. Fifty-Seven
11. Still Haunted
12. Epilogue

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SOURCES (14 Primary Documents)

This album is based entirely on documented facts. All text message quotes are from evidence admitted in federal court.

Court Documents:
• Deferred Prosecution Agreement: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/media/1332791/dl
• Criminal Information: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/media/1333086/dl

DOJ Case Page (7 press releases):
• https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/case/us-v-ebay-inc

Investigative Journalism:
• "Take Her Down" - Boston Magazine: https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2021/12/02/ebay-ecommercebytes-stalking/
• CBS 60 Minutes: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebay-stalking-scandal-haunts-steiner-couple-60-minutes-2023-03-26/
• San Jose Spotlight: https://sanjosespotlight.com/disgraced-ebay-exec-wielded-power-at-san-jose-city-hall/

SEC Filing (Wenig Severance):
• https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065088/000119312519254832/d806459dex101.htm

Wikipedia Overview:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay_stalking_scandal

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KEY FACTS

57 months - James Baugh's prison sentence
$57 million - Devin Wenig's severance
7 - Employees convicted
0 - Executives charged

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DOCUMENTARY NOTE

This album is a dramatic interpretation of documented events. All factual claims are based on the sources listed above.

Dialogue and internal thoughts attributed to real individuals are dramatized for artistic purposes and do not represent their actual words or thoughts unless explicitly quoted from court evidence. Character perspectives (such as executive or security team POV tracks) are narrative devices used for storytelling, not impersonation or claimed mind-reading.

Still Haunted

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[Verse]
Rattle through the block, snakes on my speaker cone
808 thumpin’, spine twistin’ to the bone
Pockets on swollen, heavy like a brick phone
Creepin' in the shadows where the lost ones roam

[Chorus]
Rattletrap, rattletrap, shake the whole map
Echoes in the night, yeah, we runnin’ all that
Rattletrap, rattletrap, money in the backpack
Step up in the dark, ain't no way to backtrack

[Verse 2]
Gold teeth glisten, venom in the flow spit
Swerve through the chaos, whip slick as an oil slick
Streetlight flicker, ghost face in the window tint
Move like a phantom, whispers where the silence splits

[Chorus]
Rattletrap, rattletrap, streets where the rats at
Drums in the night, hear the city's heart clap
Rattletrap, rattletrap, dreams where the cracks at
No escape route when the bass snap-back

[Bridge]
Fangs on the mic, venom laced in the syntax
Pulse in the floor, every bar's a cardiac
Lungs full of smoke, life burns like a smokestack
All we know is rattle, no rewind, no track

[Chorus]
Rattletrap, rattletrap, shadows where the heat at
Night turns to ash, no chance to cheat that
Rattletrap, rattletrap, hearts where the beat at
Spit until the end, ain't no way to beat that

Right Ver - See You Again

SSGLuch

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