(KGTV) — The U.S. Department of Justice says a California man who used to work for Twitter has been sentenced to three and a half years of prison time for feeding confidential and sensitive user information to the Saudi Royal Family.
Ahmad Abouammo, a 45-year-old man from Walnut Creek, was convicted on the following charges following a two-week jury trial in August:
- Acting as a foreign agent without notice to the attorney general
- Conspiracy
- Wire fraud
- International money laundering
- Falsification of records in a federal investigation
The information Abouammo shared with the Saudi Royal Family could be used to identify and locate Twitter users, which an FBI Counterintelligence Division assistant director said was used to target critics and dissidents.
“Mr. Abouammo violated the trust placed on him to protect the privacy of individuals by giving their personal information to a foreign power for profit. His conduct was made all the more egregious by the fact that the information was intended to target political dissidents speaking out against that foreign power,” says Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “We are committed to holding accountable those who act unlawfully as unregistered foreign agents and advance hidden influence campaigns on behalf of foreign regimes.”
The DOJ says Abouammo first received bribes from a Kingdom of Saudi Arabia official as early as Dec. 2014, when he accepted a luxury Hublot watch worth $42,000 during a meeting in London. He was a Media Partnerships Manager for Twitter's Middle East and North Africa region at the time. Evidence showed Abouammo accepted bribes from KSA officials in exchange for information of Twitter users critical of the Saudi Royal Family, despite Twitter policies promoting the protection of user information and disclosure of gifts and possible conflicts of interest, the press release says.
In Feb. 2015, Abouammo traveled to Lebanon and gained access to a bank account opened in his father's name. That account received $100,000 from the KSA official, and Abouammo laundered it by sending small wire transfers to the U.S. with false descriptions, the DOJ says. The same account received another $100,000 shortly after Abouammo left Twitter for a new job, and the note attached to the wire included an apology for the delayed payment.
He lied to the FBI about those transactions in Oct. 2018 and even falsified an invoice when questioned further about them, the release says.
According to the DOJ, the KSA official who bribed Abouammo was the head of the private office for a royal family member who acted as Minister of State and later became the Minister of Defense and Deputy Crown Prince during their correspondence.
Alan Kohler Jr., the assistant director for the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, says Abouammo failed to register as a foreign agent, which is required for anyone working to advance a foreign government's agenda.
"Mr. Abouammo brazenly disregarded this law by exploiting his role at Twitter to not only locate and peddle user information, but to also launder money via the sale of gifts received from the Saudi Royal Family," Kohler Jr. says. "His sentencing demonstrates the FBI’s unwavering dedication to protecting against any attempt by a foreign government to stalk, harass or intimidate the people within our borders.”
Abouammo was also sentenced to three years of supervision following his 42-month prison term, and forced to forfeit $242,000, the release says.
"This sentence sends a message to insiders with access to user information to safeguard it, particularly from repressive regimes, or risk significant time in prison,” says U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds for the Northern District of California.
His prison sentence is set to begin on March 31, 2023.
