What does it price to promote out and hand over the personal info of the critics for a despotic regime? Apparently $300,000 and a pleasant watch. A former Twitter worker was convicted on six of his unique 11 counts of working as an agent for Saudi Arabia. The verdict got here down late Tuesday, and all that’s left is sentencing, which might be as much as 20 years in federal jail.

Federal prosecutors said that former Twitter worker Ahmad Abouammo, a U.S. resident born in Egypt who held twin U.S.-Lebanese citizenship, labored as a media partnership supervisor, serving to promote the corporate whereas working with journalists and celebrities within the Middle East and north Africa. Feds additional claimed that whereas in that job he had been working as a spy on behalf of the Saudi Arabian authorities from late 2014 to March 2015.

He was convicted of being an agent for a international energy, in addition to cash laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for making an attempt to wire cash to Saudi accounts, however the unique costs go a lot deeper than that. According to the original complaint, prosecutors additionally stated that Abouammo had been engaged on behalf of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to worm his means by way of Twitter’s inner techniques to share private info on Saudi critics and dissidents.

Bloomberg reported that prosecutors confirmed that Abouammo acquired $300,000 in wire transfers in bribes from MBS’ aide in change for Twitter account data. Feds additionally alleged Abouammo acquired an costly Hublot look ahead to his troubles. The trial lasted two and a half weeks earlier than he was lastly convicted. Bloomberg also reported that the court docket restricted prosecutors from telling the jury that the U.S. believed the crown prince used this Twitter data to detain and torture supposed critics.

Abouammo was represented by San Francisco public defender Angela Chuang, in response to studies. She didn’t instantly reply to Gizmodo’s request for remark. Chuang reportedly informed the jury Twitter botched their very own investigation and was careless in dealing with Twitter customers’ information. A fellow individual charged within the unique grievance, Ali Alzabarah, fled to Saudi Arabia, and Chuang apparently criticized the corporate and the U.S. for letting him go at the same time as he was beneath surveillance.

Twitter declined to touch upon the decision, however the firm did say they’ve been cooperating with legislation enforcement all through the trial, they usually beforehand carried out their very own investigation and notified customers in the event that they have been impacted.

Abouammo, a self-described critic of Saudi Arabia who had been granted asylum within the U.S., sued the social media company in late 2021. He alleged the corporate had successfully collaborated and in any other case turned a blind eye to the Saudi authorities’s assaults on dissenters, however attorneys later agreed to dismiss the case in July.

Though the fees towards Abouammo weren’t filed till 2019, investigations within the wake of the brutal homicide of Saudi critic and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi introduced the younger Saudi royal’s on-line spying campaigns to the general public eye. A 2018 New York Times investigation following Khashoggi’s homicide confirmed how the crown prince helped sick legions of Twitter accounts to harass the journalist. That report additionally confirmed how efficient the royal has been at utilizing Twitter to prop up his regime. Bin Salman has additionally been well-known for being buddy-buddy with most of the world’s greatest tech corporations and their CEOs.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal owns $300 million value of inventory in Twitter. While the guy prince was initially skeptical of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s deliberate and botched takeover of the corporate, bin Talal later pledged $1.9 billion to assist with the buy.