A Romanian-born man has pleaded guilty to sending threatening emails to top execs at eBay.

In emails sent to chief exec Meg Whitman and chairman Pierre Omidyar, Florin Horicianu, 37, said he would "haunt and hurt them and their families and that he would locate them anywhere".

Horicianu sent the threatening emails following a dispute with the giant online auction site. He also sent emails demanding $800,000 from the company, reports AP.

The US Attorney for the Northern District of California said the New York man yesterday pleaded guilty today to "two counts of transmitting threatening interstate communications to two eBay officials". He sent the emails from the Easy Internet Café in New York City in May last year.

Horicianu is due to be sentenced in September and faces up to five years behind bars and a $250,000 fine. ®

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