In an espionage case that spanned Silicon Valley and the Middle East, a former Twitter employee was convicted of failing to register as an agent for Saudi Arabia and other crimes after obtaining private data on users critical of the kingdom’s leadership.
In 2019, Ahmad Abouammo, a US citizen and former media relationship manager for Twitter’s Middle East region, was accused with working as a Saudi Arabian agent without being registered with the US government. A jury convicted him guilty on six charges, including wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering. He was acquitted of five further wire fraud counts by the jury.
The case represented the first time the monarchy, which has long been connected to the United States via enormous oil reserves and regional security agreements, has been accused of spying in the United States.
According to a 2019 FBI complaint, Abouammo and Saudi citizen Ali Alzabarah, who worked as an engineer at Twitter, used their positions to gain access to confidential Twitter data about users, including their email addresses, phone numbers, and IP addresses, which can be used to determine a user’s location.
Former Twitter workers Ahmad Abouammo and Ali Alzabarah are shown in a graphic, both of whom have been accused with eavesdropping on social media users for the Saudi government and royal family.
According to the complaint, Abouammo “knowingly forged and communicated to FBI investigators a false invoice in order to hinder an ongoing federal criminal investigation.”
According to the lawsuit, the workers were rewarded with a fancy watch and tens of thousands of dollars sent into hidden bank accounts.
A third guy cited in the lawsuit, Saudi citizen Ahmed Al-Mutairi, was accused of acting as a middleman for the Saudi royal family.
According to the US lawsuit, approximately 6,000 Twitter accounts’ user data was accessed, including at least 33 identities for whom Saudi law enforcement had issued emergency disclosure requests to Twitter. Abouammo was arrested and freed on bail in November 2019. He had entered a not guilty plea. Al-Mutairi and Alzabarah are still sought by the FBI.
Abouammo’s lawyers and Twitter did not reply quickly to requests for comment on Tuesday.