This story originally appeared on CBSNews.com’s sister site ZDNet.com.
Newly dropped Tuesday on espionage charges against two former Twitter employees and one other person, the US government has dropped a new replacement indictment charging the three people with even more crimes.
The two former Twitter employees, Ahmad Abouammo and Ali Alzabarah, and the third person named Ahmed Almutairi were originally loaded with fraudulent access to private information and acting as illegal agents of a foreign government for allegedly spying on Twitter users critical of the Saudi royal family.
This time, the individuals have been charged with seven crimes instead of two. The charges include acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notice to the attorney general; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; electronic fraud; money laundering; destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; helping and instigating; and criminal forfeiture.
The factual allegations made by the US government are largely the same compared to the original complaint, as the two former Twitter employees are still accused of using their company’s privileges to provide non-disclosure information. Public Twitter accounts to the Saudi government and the royal family.
The original complaint had claimed that the two former Twitter employees accessed information such as phone numbers, recent IP address information, devices used, biographical information provided by the user, records containing information from a user’s browser, and a complete record of the actions of a user on Twitter without authorization or consent
In the new indictment, the US government provides more details on the information allegedly taken. According to the new indictment, Abouammo and Alzabarah accessed information on the accounts of journalists, celebrities, and brand and public interest organizations in the Middle East.
The new indictment also accuses Saudi officials of paying Abouammo at least $ 200,000, by wire transfer to a shell company and a bank account in Lebanon. It is also alleged that they gave him a watch valued at around $ 20,000. The amount stated in the original complaint was around $ 300,000.
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The United States government is also accusing Abouammo of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about the money he received, surveillance, and communications with Saudi officials. Abouammo allegedly lied to the FBI by failing to report the watch and provided a counterfeit and outdated receipt showing a $ 100,000 payment from Saudi officials, which he said was provided in exchange for media consulting services.
ZDNet has reached out to Twitter to comment on its former employees.
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