Former Twitter employee gets 3-1/2 years for espionage for Saudi Arabia

On Wednesday, December 14, prosecutors announced that a former Twitter manager who had been convicted of espionage for Saudi Arabia had been sentenced to 3-and-a-half years in a jail in the United States.

In August, following a trial that took place in the federal court in San Francisco, Ahmad Abouammo was given a verdict of guilty by a jury. On one case, he faced a potential prison sentence of 10 years, and on numerous other counts, he faced potential punishments of 20 years apiece.

Keep Reading

According to the prosecution’s allegations, Abouammo began accepting bribes from Saudi officials as early as 2014. While working at Twitter, he assisted in managing the company’s connections with celebrities and journalists throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

He was found guilty of sharing confidential information obtained from the company’s systems with Saudi government officials in order to assist them in identifying and locating Twitter users of interest.

Requests for comments from the public defenders working for the federal government that represent Abouammo were not immediately answered.

Elon Musk, who recently took control of Twitter, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.