An ex-Twitter employee was found guilty of spying for Saudi Arabia in exchange for a $20,000 watch and a $300,000 payment

An ex-Twitter employee was found guilty of spying for Saudi Arabia in exchange for a $20,000 watch and a $300,000 payment

One of two ex-Twitter employees charged with spying on users on behalf of Saudi Arabia has been officially convicted. in California found Ahmad Abouammo, who has both American and Lebanese citizenship, guilty of compiling the personal Twitter information of anonymous users that spoke critically of the Saudi government and handing the data to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's close aide. In exchange, the court found that the close aide gave Abouammo a $20,000 luxury watch and deposited $300,000 to a Lebanese account set up in his father's name. He was also found guilty of charges including money laundering, conspiracy to commit wired fraud, and falsifying records. The other ex-Twitter employee charged in 2019, Ali Alzabarah, fled to Saudi Arabia to escape being tried, per A federal criminal complaint filed by the US Justice Department , and Abouammo was arrested in early November of that year. He was a media partnerships manager at Twitter from 2014 to 2015, per the complaint. Abouammo faced up to 20 years in prison, according to The verdict shuts the door on what turned out to be a wild case of data from a US-based tech platform being used to aid the Saudi royal family. American