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Ex-Twitter Worker Found Guilty of Spying for Saudi Government, Reports Say

Ahmad Abouammo was accused of accepting $300,000 in exchange for the personal info of Twitter users.

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Headshot of Corinne Reichert
Corinne Reichert Senior Editor
Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.
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Corinne Reichert
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Former Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo has been found guilty of spying as an unregistered agent for Saudi Arabia, multiple publications reported Tuesday after watching the jury announce its verdict.

Abouammo was also found guilty of money laundering, falsification of records and wire fraud, the reports said.

In November 2019, the US Justice Department charged Abouammo with spying for Saudi Arabia from late 2014 to late 2018. He allegedly accessed the personal information of Twitter users, including critics of the Saudi regime, and shared this information with a Saudi official in exchange for a designer watch and about $300,000 in payments.

Twitter and the Department of Justice didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Abouammo and his lawyers couldn't be reached for comment.