While fresh named Twitter CEO Elon Musk continues toexplorenew manner to sluice out leakers from company , the U.S. government ’s been in use close out a court case against genuine Twitter spies . Now , according toNBC , a former Twitter employee convict of exposing dissidents ’ personal information on behalf of the Saudi Royal home in central for over a quarter of a million dollars and a luxury watch could spend more than three days behind bar .
Ahmad Abouammo , a dual U.S.-Lebanese citizen who function at Twitter between 2013 and 2015 , was sentence to three and one-half years in prison house for his spycraft by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California . Abouammo reportedly worked at Twitter as a culture medium partnerships manager for the Middle East and North Africa where he further the caller while engaging with journalists and celebrities in the region . Between 2014 and 2015 , Union prosecutors allege Abouammo used that role to obtain the phone number , IP addresses , birthdates , and other personal information of majestic class critics and then delivered that data to Saudi-Arabian authorities officials .
In exchange , the Saudi-Arabian governing rewarded Abouammo with a $ 300,000 telegram carry-over and flashy Hublot watch . Abouammo , who allegedly continued to pry erstwhile atomic number 27 - workers to verify certain Twitter users ’ personal selective information even after he left the company in 2015 , reportedly used part of those brief to put down a down defrayal for a house in Seattle .
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia takes his seat ahead of a working lunch at the G20 Summit on 3 December 2024 in Nusa Dua, IndonesiaPhoto: Leon Neal (Getty Images)
exhibit Twitter account statement details can mean the departure between freedom and incarceration for Saudi political dissidents . Last year , a U.S. national was reportedlydetainedwhile visit family in Saudi Arabia and receive a 16 year jail sentence after post a series of tweets vital of the ruling family . More latterly , Salma al - Shehab , a 34 - twelvemonth - old Saudi citizen who was studying for a doctorial level at the University of Leeds in the U.K. was nab while see menage over tweetsreportedlycommenting on human rights abuses in her home res publica . The mother of two now potentially faces 34 age in prison .
The closely four twelvemonth prison judgment of conviction might sound steep , but it ’s in reality just afractionof the 20 years Abouammo could have potentially spent behind BAR after being convicted on six counts earlier this year . Prosecutors convict Abouammo of being a extraneous agent and on cathexis of money laundering and conspiracy to place wire fraud for his attempts to wire money to Saudi-Arabian accounts . The Justice Department , according to NBC , allege another former Twitter employee and man accused of fade that data to Saudi-Arabian officials have fled to Saudi Arabia for rubber .
Twitter did not immediately react to Gizmodo ’s request for comment , though it ’s worth note Twitter ’s communications teamreportedlyendured major snub as part of the society ’s estimated 3,700 personal layoff .
The dramatic prison house condemnation come just month after former Twitter head of safety turned whistleblower Peiter “ Mudge ” Zatko tell reporters hebelievedgovernment agents from India and China had managed to penetrate the company . Zatko afterwards appear before a Senate Judiciary Committee where heallegedTwitter had , “ at least one agent ” from a Chinese intelligence service on its payroll department .
Elon MuskGizmodoLaw , CrimeX ( Twitter )
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