Caught

Former Twitter Employee Found Guilty of Spying for Saudi Arabia

Ahmad Abouammo was found guilty of sending Saudi officials private user info in exchange for money and gifts.

Former Twitter Inc. employee Ahmad Abouammo was convicted Tuesday for spying on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government after he was found to have turned over the personal details of Twitter platform users who anonymously criticized the Kingdom and its royal family. Abouammo, who was a media partnership manager at the social media goliath, was charged with acting as an agent for the foreign government, money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and falsifying records, which prosecutors believe helped Mohammed bin Salman, the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, silence his critics. The two-week trial in a San Francisco federal court showed evidence that Abouammo had received a Hublot watch and $300,000 in wire transfers from an aide to the Crown Prince.