Ahmad Abouammo, a former media partnerships manager for Twitter's Middle East/North Africa region, was found guilty of multiple felonies, including acting as a foreign agent of Saudi Arabia without providing notice to the Attorney General, money laundering, conspiracy and falsifying records.
The verdict against the 44-year-old former Walnut Creek resident follows a two-week trial, according to an announcement Wednesday from the office of U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds of the Northern District of California.
The evidence at trial demonstrated that Abouammo took bribes in exchange for accessing, monitoring and conveying the private information of Twitter users to officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Royal family, according to the announcement.
Hinds said the Department of Justice does not tolerate the misuse of personal information or attempts by foreign governments to recruit secret, malign agents at American technology companies.
Hinds added that, "Abouammo violated a sacred trust to keep private personal information from Twitter's customers and sold private customer information to a foreign government."
The department's announcement reported that according to the evidence presented at trial, Abouammo began receiving bribes from an official of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as early as December 2014, including one in 2015 for $100,000 deposited in a bank account in his father's name in Lebanon.
