A jury in San Francisco found a man guilty on Tuesday of six charges stemming from accusations that he spied on the company's users.
Ahmad Abouammo was in charge of media partnerships in the Middle East. He received hundreds of thousands of dollars and a watch from a top adviser to Saudi Arabia's crown prince. The personal user information of dissidents was shared by him.
The jury found Mr. Abouammo guilty of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of money laundering, one count of faking records, and one count of acting as an agent of a foreign government. Mr. Abouammo was acquitted on five counts of wire fraud.
As the United States seeks closer Saudi-Israeli relations and relief from high gas prices, the verdict comes at a fraught time between the two countries. President Biden made his first visit as president to the kingdom last month, setting aside a promise to make it a pariah and getting a fistbump from the crown prince.
The visit was criticized by human rights activists who said it diminished the murder of the Washington Post columnist who was killed in Saudi Arabia.
The jury of six men and five women deliberated for 17 hours before reaching a verdict. After a member of the jury tested positive for the coronaviruses, prosecutors and Mr. Abouammo's lawyers agreed to let 11 jurors decide the case.
Three jurors answered questions from the defense team after the verdict was read, saying they had deliberated the longest over the charge of being an agent of a foreign government. The jury made a unanimous decision on Tuesday. One juror told Mr. Abouammo's lawyers that she wished the social networking site had a bigger role to play.
The spokeswoman wouldn't say anything about the verdict.
Mr. Abouammo was arrested in the middle of the year. Ali Alzabarah fled the country before he could be arrested. The jury did not believe that Mr. Abouammo had influenced his co-worker.
Mr. Abouammo was described as a mole by prosecutors.
There's power. It was greed. There are things that are lies. Eric Cheng, an assistant U.S. attorney, spoke during closing statements.
The jury found that Abouammo violated a sacred trust by selling private customer information to someone else.
The misuse of personal information or attempts by foreign governments to recruit secret agents at American technology companies will not be allowed.
Prosecutors said that Mr. Abouammo looked up personal information for the person behind the account, as well as for other people. The account is critical of the leadership in Saudi Arabia. According to prosecutors, Saudi representatives paid $300,000 for the information.
The security executive who testified at the trial said he was grateful for the verdict. It has been a long road to this conviction. Many people worked to see that justice was done.
Lawyers for Mr. Abouammo said he was merely an employee of the social networking site. According to Mr. Abouammo's defense, other media-partnerships managers at the platform developed close relationships with influential people who used the platform and provided white-glove service, helping them become verified on the platform.
Lawyers for Mr. Abouammo said that prosecutors did not connect his payments and access to information.
If you think Mr. Abouammo did it, you have to vote not guilty, according to the federal public defender who is representing him. The lawyer for Mr. Abouammo refused to speak on the verdict.
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