New York, Aug 10 : Former Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo has been found guilty by an US court for gaining access to personal information in the Twitter accounts of specific Twitter users, as well as then providing the data to authorities in Saudi Arabia. Abouammo and Ali Alzabarah — two Twitter employees and two employees of Twitter — and Saudi national Ahmed Almutairi, aka Ahmed Aljbreen were arrested in 2019 for allegedly acting as agents illegitimate of the Saudi government in the US.
Abouammo was also accused with destruction, alteration or falsifying evidence in an investigation by the federal government.
In the San Francisco court, Abouammo was found guilty by an indictment jury of conspiracy to commit fraud on wires, falsifying documents and laundering money.
He faces the possibility of 20 years in prison as reported by the media at the end of the day on Tuesday.
In the court trial, the defense claimed that A well-known participant of Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s government approached Abouammo to assist in investigating his enemies.
“In the year 2018, Saudi government officials killed and dismembered Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, Virginia resident and frequent critic of the Saudi regime,” reports The Verge.
In the report of the US Department of Justice, between November 2014 between May 2015 and November 2014, Almutairi, 30, of Saudi Arabia, and foreign officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia convinced Abouammo and Alzabarah to use their credentials as employees to gain access to some non-public information regarding the individuals who have some Twitter accounts.
“Specifically specifically, the representatives of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Royal Family requested the private data of Twitter users who have expressed criticism of the Saudi regime.” in the complaint.
The private information of users included email addresses, telephone numbers, IP addresses and the dates of birth.
This information could be used to locate and identify those Twitter users who posted these posts.
The complaint claimed that Abouammo was compensated for his nefarious behavior, including the exchange of a luxurious watch as well as cash.
Almutairi is believed to have organized meetings, served as a facilitator and also facilitated communication between the Saudi government and the other defendants.
Abouammo was detained in Seattle, Washington in November, while Alzabarah and Almutairi could be in Saudi Arabia.Federal warrants for their arrest have been issued.
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