According to the papers, eBay officials have told prosecutors that the Web auctioneer permitted the sale of firearms only after the ATF in 1998 told two executives at a meeting in San Francisco that the sales broke no laws. The ATF had no comment. His lawyer, John Carroll, declined to comment. EBay provides an online auction site where sellers advertise items and buyers bid for them. The company lists about 4 million items for sale daily.
Sellers pay commissions for listing items online and another fee based on the final sale price.
Prosecutors said the company was the ''subject'' of the investigation, a formal designation that means its conduct is ''within the scope'' of a grand jury probe, according to the Justice Department. EBay was not considered a target, a description indicating prosecutors have ''substantial evidence'' of a crime. In addition to the January 1999 subpoena, prosecutors in June 1999 requested from eBay information on whether firearms sellers or buyers had federal firearms licenses and were 18 or older. In the papers reviewed by Bloomberg, prosecutors didn't outline their evidence against eBay. Finn, who has since left the U.S. Attorney's Office, could not be reached for comment.