Ahmad Abouammo, a former Twitter employee has been found guilty of spying for Saudi officials including those close to the Saudi crown prince. On Tuesday, Ahmad, a Saudi national was charged guilty on several criminal counts including being an illegal agent of a foreign government and engaging in money laundering as well as fraud.
According to US prosecutor Colin Sampson, Ahmad had sold Twitter user information for a cash sum of $100,000 and a watch valued at more than $40,000. He received the valuables from someone close to the Saudi crown prince.
“The evidence shows that, for a price and thinking no one was watching, the defendant sold his position to an insider of the crown prince,” the prosecution told the San Franciso court and jurors.
The then-Twitter workers had unfettered user info access
According to the copy of the verdict, the jury deliberated for three days straight before coming to a conclusion and finding Ahmad guilty on six of the 11 charges.
Reportedly, the prosecution believes that Ahmad and one of his fellow employees named Ali Alzabarah were hired by Saudi officials in 2014 to act as moles and find information regarding Twitter accounts that were critical of the regime.
It is pertinent to note that at the time, Twitter employees could look even look behind the anonymous accounts by surveying the email addresses, date of birth, phone numbers and private data; meaning any individual could be identified with ease.
After completing his supposed assignment, Ahmad quit Twitter in 2015 and switched jobs for a position in Amazon at its main headquarter in Seattle.
However, Ahmad’s counsel Angela Chuang argued that it was a conspiracy to frame Ahmad and if the prosecutors wanted to go after someone, it should have been Ali Alzabarah who has reportedly escaped the USA, according to an FBI statement.
“As much as the government wishes that was Mr Alzabarah sitting at the table right now, it is not. And that is on them, they let Mr Alzabarah flee the country while he was under FBI surveillance.” said Chuang.
(With inputs from agencies)
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