While newly named Twitter CEO Elon Musk continues to explore new methods to flesh out leakers from corporations, the U.S. authorities’s been busy closing out a court docket case towards precise Twitter spies. Now, according to NBC, a former Twitter worker convicted of exposing dissidents’ private info on behalf of the Saudi Royal household in trade for over 1 / 4 of one million {dollars} and a luxurious watch might spend greater than three years behind bars.

Ahmad Abouammo, a twin U.S.-Lebanese citizen who labored at Twitter between 2013 and 2015, was sentenced to a few and half years in jail for his spycraft by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Abouammo reportedly labored at Twitter as a media partnerships supervisor for the Middle East and North Africa the place he promoted the corporate whereas participating with journalists and celebrities within the area. Between 2014 and 2015, federal prosecutors allege Abouammo used that position to acquire the cellphone numbers, IP addresses, birthdates, and different private info of royal household critics after which delivered that info to Saudi authorities officers.

In trade, the Saudi authorities rewarded Abouammo with a $300,000 wire switch and flashy Hublot watch. Abouammo, who allegedly continued to pry previous co-workers to confirm sure Twitter customers’ private info even after he left the corporate in 2015, reportedly used a part of these briefs to place down a down fee for a home in Seattle.

Exposed Twitter account particulars can imply the distinction between freedom and incarceration for Saudi political dissidents. Last 12 months, a U.S. nationwide was reportedly detained whereas visiting household in Saudi Arabia and acquired a 16 12 months jail sentence after posting a collection of tweets crucial of the ruling household. More lately, Salma al-Shehab, a 34-year-old Saudi citizen who was learning for a doctoral diploma on the University of Leeds within the U.Okay. was arrested whereas visiting household over tweets reportedly commenting on human rights abuses in her residence nation. The mom of two now probably faces 34 years in jail.

The almost 4 12 months jail sentence may sound steep, nevertheless it’s really only a fraction of the 20 years Abouammo might have probably spent behind bars after being convicted on six counts earlier this 12 months. Prosecutors convicted Abouammo of being a overseas agent and on costs of cash laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his makes an attempt to wire cash to Saudi accounts. The Justice Department, based on NBC, alleges one other former Twitter worker and man accused of passing that knowledge to Saudi officers have fled to Saudi Arabia for security.

Twitter didn’t instantly reply to Gizmodo’s request for remark, although it’s price noting Twitter’s communications group reportedly endured main cuts as a part of the corporate’s estimated 3,700 private layoffs.

The dramatic jail sentence comes simply months after former Twitter head of security turned whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko informed reporters he believed authorities brokers from India and China had managed to infiltrate the corporate. Zatko later appeared earlier than a Senate Judiciary Committee the place he alleged Twitter had, “at least one agent” from a Chinese intelligence service on its payroll.