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A former Twitter worker was once convicted of failing to sign up as a international agent, cord fraud, world cash laundering, and different fees for sharing non-public Twitter consumer knowledge with officers in Saudi Arabia and individuals of the Saudi Royal circle of relatives in trade for money and a luxurious watch.
Ahmad Abouammo, 44, up to now labored as a media partnerships supervisor for the Middle East/North Africa area at Twitter.
“The evidence at trial demonstrated that Abouammo took bribes in exchange for accessing, monitoring and conveying the private information of Twitter users to officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Royal family,” the Justice Department mentioned.
In December 2014, Abouammo met with an reputable from Saudi Arabia, who gave him a luxurious Hublot watch price $42,000.
Ahmad Abouammo, a former Twitter worker accused of spying for Saudi Arabia, leaves Santa Rita prison after being freed pending trial, in Dublin, California. (REUTERS/Kate Munsch / Reuters)
Abouammo then began having access to non-public knowledge on Twitter, together with one influential account that was once “critical of members of the Saudi Royal Family and the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Justice Department mentioned.
INSIDERS RESPOND WITH SHOCK TO ALLEGATION THAT TWITTER WORKER SPIED FOR SAUDI ARABIA
A Saudi reputable despatched $100,000 in 2015 to a Lebanese checking account related to a circle of relatives member of Abouammo, who then laundered the cash again to the U.S. in small increments.
Shortly after leaving his activity at Twitter in 2021, Abouammo won every other $100,000 test from the Saudi reputable.
Abouammo additionally equipped false knowledge to FBI brokers who interviewed him at his Seattle house in October 2018.
In this photograph representation, the brand of Twitter can also be noticed on a smartphone. (Thomas Trutschel/Photothek by way of Getty Images / Getty Images)
A grand jury convicted Abouammo on Tuesday of failing to sign up as a international agent, cord fraud, cash laundering and different fees.
“Any attempts by foreign governments to hijack free speech – in social media or any form – will not be tolerated here in the United States,” Assistant Director Alan Kohler Jr. of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division mentioned in a commentary. “Authoritarian governments rely on transnational repression to shape the world in their favor and stifle dissent.”
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Another former Twitter worker, Saudi citizen Ali Alzabarah, was once accused of having access to the non-public knowledge of hundreds of Twitter accounts for Saudi Arabia in 2015, together with one who belonged to Omar Abdulaziz, who is significant of the Saudi executive.
Twitter declined to remark at the verdict on Wednesday.
Fox News’s David Spunt contributed to this record.
