eBay Risk & Compliance Leadership Back in Flux Following Ryan Jones’ Departure
eBay’s Risk and Compliance leadership is once again in limbo following Ryan Jones’ move to lead Global Legal operations at ByteDance, after the TikTok US spin-off. The move adds to recent leadership turnover, sharpening questions around continuity, oversight, and governance at the company.
Jones announced his new position in a post on LinkedIn 2 weeks ago, saying "Leaving the team at eBay was bittersweet, but I am so proud of what we accomplished together. Now, I am eager to apply those experiences at a global scale, ensuring excellence in compliance, governance and integrity at ByteDance."
But strangely, his full LinkedIn profile has been backdated to show that he actually departed the company in October 2025 - which raises questions about who has been in charge of Risk & Compliance since that time as eBay has not yet publicly named a successor.
Jones joined eBay in 2023 after a 5 year stint as Chief Compliance Officer Payments for AirBnB, taking on this crucial regulatory and risk management role at a critical time for the company as they faced questions from the SEC and a DOJ investigation regarding the 2019 cyberstalking scandal.
Liz Morton
Previously, Molly Finn had served as eBay's "first Chief Compliance Officer" from 2018-2021 before being moved to VP Deputy General Counsel M&A and Securities in January 2022, leaving a ~2 year gap in eBay's compliance leadership before Jones was hired.
While no explanation was ever publicly given for her change in role, it's notable that she presided over ethics and compliance during the 2019 stalking scandal when eBay security personnel targeted journalists Ina and David Steiner of EcommerceBytes in a bizarre plot to try to influence their coverage of eBay and out an anonymous source, Fidomaster/unsuckEBAY.
Finn's name and email address appear multiple times in privilege logs submitted in court records and then Chief Legal Officer Marie Oh Huber was also copied on executive communications that have been introduced in the case.
Seven eBay employees pleaded guilty to multiple federal felonies in the stalking scandal and the Steiners filed a civil suit against those employees plus CEO Devin Wenig, Comms Chief Steve Wymer, SVP Global Ops Wendy Jones and eBay which is set for trial next month.
Were there red flags and holes in eBay's ethics and compliance procedures that were missed, allowing these criminal acts to occur on Molly Finn's watch?
Liz Morton
Strangely, eBay also promoted Aaron Johnson, the main recipient of Wymer's infamous "whatever it takes" email, to Chief Ethics Officer in the wake of the scandal - a position he still holds today.
Public records show the SEC sent a letter on September 20, 2022 with some pointed questions about eBay's April 21, 2022 Proxy Statement - including directly asking for disclosure as to whether or not eBay had a Chief Compliance Officer at that time and, if so, to whom that person reported.
Notably, it was Molly Finn who responded, using her title of Vice President, Deputy General Counsel (leaving off the M&A part), and she completely glossed over the Compliance Officer question, neither explicitly stating she no longer held that title nor confirming whether or not eBay had anyone in that role at that time.
Per the SEC's request, eBay addressed these questions in "future proxy disclosures" with the Proxy Statement filed on April 28, 2023 purporting to lay the matter to rest by stating "Our Audit Committee has an annual cadence to review the risks included in its remit, including quarterly meetings regarding ethics programs with our Chief Compliance Officer (who reports to our Chief Legal Officer, with direct access to the Audit Committee Chair)."
But who was the Chief Compliance Officer reporting to Oh Huber and supposedly having quarterly meetings with the Audit Committee from January 2022 until August 2023?
Coincidentally, Jones was hired as Chief Risk and Compliance officer just months before eBay negotiated a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice which held the company criminally liable for the cyberstalking campaign with a $3 Million fine and 3 years of enhanced compliance monitoring.
Liz Morton
That compliance monitoring order had a curious focus on Mergers and Acquisitions, suggesting that DOJ may have had broader concerns about eBay's business practices - particularly their acquisition of collectible trading card marketplace TCGPlayer in 2022, which was led by Molly Finn.
Those concerns may have included due diligence and disclosure failures in that acquisition, which led to the formation of the first US labor union in eBay's history and the sudden departure of Chief Accounting Officer Brian Doerger in March 2023.
CLO Marie Oh Huber left eBay in 2024, taking a $6.5M severance on the way out, and being replaced by current CLO Samantha Wellington.
And Molly Finn departed in 2025, leaving a legacy of legal and regulatory debacles in her wake.
Liz Morton
During Ryan Jones' time at the company, eBay largely succeeded in avoiding accountability for many of the legal and compliance issues raised over recent years.
The labor troubles at TCGPlayer were quashed when eBay announced they were closing the Syracuse, NY facility (firing over 200 unionized workers in the process) and moving authentication operations to right-to-work Kentucky.
Liz Morton
The EPA lawsuit which sought to hold eBay responsible for prohibited pesticides and illegal emissions control cheat devices sold on the platform was dismissed when U.S. District Judge Orelia Merchant ruled that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 protects the company from liability.
Liz Morton
But that protection could be in peril in the near future as Congress is considering reforming or repealing Section 230, which would open up a compliance nightmare for eBay and other online marketplaces.
Liz Morton
eBay also faces ongoing legal and compliance pressure in Europe, with German regulators questioning the company's AI privacy practices and French authorities investigating the sale of illegal goods on the platform.
Liz Morton
And the civil case regarding the 2019 cyberstalking scandal is set to go to trial in March 2026, where eBay and ex-executives face potential compensatory and punitive damages that could reach over $100M.
Liz Morton
eBay did not respond to request for comment about who will now be responsible for navigating these looming compliance issues for the company as of time of publishing.
Will another apparent gap in this critical leadership position draw additional scrutiny from the SEC and/or investors ahead of eBay's Q4 2025 earnings report?
