The former Twitter employee, who was found guilty of espionage in favor of Saudi Arabia, was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison.
45-year-old Ahmad Abuammo was convicted in August of this year on various criminal charges, including money laundering, fraud, falsification of documents and espionage in favor of a foreign government.
Abuammo was arrested on November 5, 2019 on charges of collecting and transferring to the Saudi Arabia to confidential information about the users of the platform that anonymously criticized the kingdom and the royal family. He worked on Twitter from 2013 to 2015.
According to judicial documents , Abuammo, who worked as a media partner manager in the region of the Middle East and North Africa (BVSA), received money from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in exchange for the transfer of identifying information regarding the kingdom, potentially subjecting them to persecution.
At the bank account, opened by Abuammo addressed to his father in Lebanon, $ 200,000 was credited with two transfers, half of which were washed in the form of small telegraph transfers in the United States with false descriptions. He also received Hublot watches, which were subsequently sold at Craigslist for $ 42,000. The court decided to confiscate $ 242,000 with Abuammo and appointed a prison term since March 31, 2023.