Former Twitter employee found guilty by US government of spying for Saudi Arabia

A former Twitter employee was found guilty on Tuesday of spying for Saudi Arabia after he leaked the personal information of private users who speak against the Kingdom to a government official of that country. 

A former 44-year-old employee named Ahmad Abouammo, passed upon the private user information associated with critics of the kingdom, and in exchange, would ask for a luxury, watch and thousands of dollars, as per a Wall Street Journal report.

On Tuesday, Ahmad was found guilty of charges like money laundering, falsification of records and one count of wire fraud by the San Francisco federal courthouse. He worked at Twitter from 2013 to 2015 and managed media partnerships with high-profile users in the Middle Eastern nations, and accessed the email accounts and phone numbers of accounts that criticized the Saudi government. 

Ex-Twitter employee found guilty of spying 

It all began in the year 2014, when Abouammo met an aide to then-Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, named  Bader Binasaker, during a tour of the headquarters Twitter. The US government said Abouammo, a dual U.S. and Lebanese citizen, had been recruited into the scheme by Binasaker, who was rising in the ranks of the Saudi Arabian government.

(With ANI Inputs)