A former employee of the micro-messaging service was found guilty of espionage. A jury found the employee guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as well as money-laundering. He could face 20 years in prison.
The company employed Abouammo in the Middle East. According to the federal complaint, he and Ali Alzabarah were approached by the Saudi government and offered cash and luxury goods in exchange for their cooperation. Alzabarah went to Saudi Arabia to avoid trial. In light of his connection to the Saudi government, some users were warned that their accounts had been targeted by state-sponsored actors.
According to the prosecution, a member of the Saudi crown prince's government tapped Abouammo to investigate his enemies. In the course of that cooperation, Abouammo allegedly collected personal information including birthdates, email addresses and phone numbers of the Saudi government's critics and sent that data to his contacts there. The defense maintained that he only looked at the information when he was at work.
Saudi government agents murdered and dismembered a critic of the regime. The U.S. has a good relationship with the Saudi government despite the fact that the crown prince ordered the killing.
The prosecution was not allowed to tell the jury about the brutal punishment that Saudi Arabia doesles out to its critics, but they were able to gesture towards that reputation through witnesses.
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