A federal jury convicted a former Twitter employee of spying for Saudi Arabia by reportedly giving the kingdom access to the personal information of anonymous users that were critical of the royal family.
Following a two-week trial in San Francisco federal court, the jury found Ahmad Abouammo guilty on Tuesday of acting as an unregistered agent of the Saudi government in exchange for $300,000 and a wristwatch worth roughly $50,000. With further convictions for money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and falsifying records, Abouammo faces between 10 and 20 years in prison.
Similar accusations were brought against fellow Twitter engineer Ali Alzabarah, who is accused of gaining access to some 6,000 Twitter accounts at the request of Saudi Arabia; however, unlike Abouammo, Alzabarah was able to flee to the Saudi kingdom. He remains on the FBI’s most wanted list.
According to prosecutors, Abouammo accepted the money and the watch as compensation for handing over confidential information about users like “Mujtahidd,” a popular Twitter account that publishes damaging information considered embarrassing by Saudi rulers. Officials told jurors the money came directly from Bader al-Asaker, a close aide to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The crown prince found himself at the center of controversy in 2018 after being accused by dozens of influential publications–and even the CIA–of having orchestrated the kidnapping, execution, and dismemberment of prominent insider-turned-critic and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.
But bin Salman proved to have little trouble getting by–with a little help from his friends.
After initially appearing to lambaste the Saudis for what he called “the worst in the history of cover-ups,” former President Donald Trump ultimately declined to take serious action against the kingdom’s ruling class, telling NBC’s Meet The Press that “Saudi Arabia is a big buyer of (American) product” and “that means something to me.”
US President Joe Biden has taken a similar tack.
After promising in 2020 to make the Saudi regime “pay the price” and turn them into “the pariah that they are,” Biden promptly broke with his campaign pledge, continuing to provide military support for the devastating Saudi-led war on Yemen and even flying to Jeddah in July to exchange fist bumps with bin Salman and beg the royal family for oil.