US jury to decide if Twitter employee spied on Saudi royals – AFR

A jury at a San Francisco court on Thursday began deliberating the fate of a former Twitter employee accused of accepting bribes from Saudi Arabia to expose his critics on the platform.

Prosecutors said Ahmad Abouammo sold Twitter user credentials for cash and an expensive watch about seven years ago, while his defense team claimed all he did was accept gifts from spendy Saudis simply because he did his account management job.

“The evidence shows that the defendant sold his position to an insider of the crown prince for a price and with the understanding that no one was looking,” said US Attorney Colin Sampson in the final remarks before the jury.

Defense attorney Angela Chuang countered that there was certainly a conspiracy to obtain revealing information about Saudi critics from Twitter about 7 years ago, but prosecutors could not prove that Abouammo was involved.

“It’s perfectly clear that the people the government really wants aren’t here because they screwed up,” Chuang told jurors.

Chuang acknowledged that Abouammo violated Twitter’s employee rules by not telling the San Francisco-based company that he received $100,000 in cash and a watch worth more than $40,000 from someone close to the Saudi crown prince was standing.

However, she downplayed the importance of the gift, saying it was “small change” in Saudi culture, which is known for generosity and lavish gifts.

Abouammo was arrested in Seattle in November 2019 on a number of charges, including being an illegal agent of a foreign government.

Prosecutors accused Abouammo and his Twitter colleague Ali Alzabarah of being recruited by Saudi officials between late 2014 and early the following year to obtain private information about accounts firing dissident posts.

Twitter employees at the time could use their credentials to collect email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and other private information to identify individuals behind anonymous accounts, prosecutors said.

“The evidence you have heard is that the defendant, who placed great trust in him through Twitter, sold his access to officials from Saudi Arabia,” Sampson said.

Abouammo left Twitter in 2015 and took a job at e-commerce titan Amazon in Seattle, where he lives, according to court documents.

Alzabarah, a Saudi citizen, is wanted for failing to register as a foreign government agent in the United States, according to an FBI statement.

Chuang told the jury that prosecutors were trying to punish Abouammo for Alzabarah’s actions.

“As much as the government would like Mr. Alzabarah to be at the table now, it is not,” Chuang told the jury.

“And that’s on them, they let Mr. Alzabarah flee the country while he was under FBI surveillance.”