Ahmad Abouammo, a former Twitter Inc manager accused of espionage for Saudi Arabia, was convicted on Tuesday on six criminal counts in San Francisco federal court. These charges included acting as an agent for Saudi Arabia and attempting to conceal a payment from an official linked to the Saudi royal family.
Abouammo, a dual US-Lebanese citizen who oversaw Twitter’s relationships with journalists and celebrities in the Middle East and North Africa, was found guilty after a 2-1/2 week trial. Jurors acquitted him on five of the 11 counts he faced.
Federal public defenders representing Abouammo did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Twitter declined to comment.
Prosecutors alleged that Bader Al-Asaker, a close adviser to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, recruited Abouammo to exploit his insider knowledge of Twitter. This included accessing accounts and gathering personal information about Saudi dissidents, such as @mujtahidd, known for criticizing the Saudi royal family.
According to prosecutors, Abouammo received over $300,000 and a $20,000 luxury watch from Al-Asaker, concealing the money by depositing it in a relative’s account in Lebanon and transferring it to his own account in the United States.
Defense lawyers argued that Abouammo’s actions were within the scope of his employment at Twitter.
In addition to acting as an agent for Saudi Arabia, Abouammo was convicted of wire fraud, honest services fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.
“The government demonstrated, and the jury found, that Abouammo violated a sacred trust to keep private personal information from Twitter’s customers and sold private customer information to a foreign government,” said US Attorney Stephanie Hinds of San Francisco in a statement.
Abouammo’s former colleague, Ali Alzabarah, also accused of accessing Twitter accounts for Saudi Arabia, left the United States before charges were filed. Notably, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Twitter were not named as defendants in the case.
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