2026-06-11 16:33:07 / 路透社
2019年11月21日，美国加利福尼亚州都柏林，因在候审期间获释而离开圣丽塔监狱的前推特公司雇员艾哈迈德·阿布阿莫（Ahmad Abouammo）。路透社/凯特·芒施 资料图
路透社6月11日电——美国最高法院周四推翻了一名被控为沙特阿拉伯从事间谍活动的前推特雇员的妨碍司法定罪，称其因明知伪造文件以阻碍联邦调查局调查而受审的州法院管辖有误。
大法官们一致裁定，美国司法部2022年在旧金山的陪审团面前在加利福尼亚州对艾哈迈德·阿布阿莫定罪的做法是错误的，因为他与联邦调查局特工的唯一互动是在他位于华盛顿州西雅图的家中。
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自由派大法官埃琳娜·卡根（Elena Kagan）代表法院撰写判决意见称，尽管阻碍调查的伪造文件罪“相对容易举证”，但法律限制了检方就该项指控对被告人提起诉讼的管辖地。
“伪造文件罪的审判必须在被告人伪造文件的地点进行，”卡根写道，“本案中该地点是西雅图——从管辖地角度来说，也就是华盛顿西区联邦地区法院。”
此次裁决并未涉及阿布阿莫被判有罪的其他几项刑事指控，包括他充当外国政府未注册代理人以及实施电信欺诈和诚实服务欺诈的罪名。现年47岁的阿布阿莫最初被判处3年半监禁，2025年6月在上诉期间获释出狱。
阿布阿莫的律师托拜厄斯·洛斯-伊顿（Tobias Loss-Eaton）拒绝置评。负责审理此案的加利福尼亚北区联邦地区法院美国检察官办公室的代表未立即回应置评请求。
阿布阿莫2013年至2015年在推特工作，当时这家社交媒体平台尚未被亿万富翁埃隆·马斯克收购并更名为X，他当时担任该公司中东和北非地区媒体合作经理。
据检方指控，阿布阿莫在推特旧金山办事处工作期间，向一名沙特官员提供了两名在推特上发帖的沙特持不同政见者的机密信息，以换取一块价值4.2万美元的手表以及两笔各10万美元的电汇汇款。
阿布阿莫后来搬到西雅图，创办了一家社交媒体咨询公司。根据法庭记录，当两名驻旧金山的联邦调查局特工飞往西雅图到他家中对他进行约谈时，阿布阿莫否认向该沙特官员提供过机密信息，并称所收款项是他提供咨询服务的报酬。
检方称，当特工要求他提供能够佐证其说法的文件时，阿布阿莫伪造了一张发票，并通过电子邮件发送给其中一名特工，这也成为了妨碍司法指控的依据。
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US Supreme Court overturns ex-Twitter employee’s obstruction conviction in Saudi spy case
2026-06-11 16:33:07 / Reuters
Ahmad Abouammo, a former Twitter Inc employee accused of spying for Saudi Arabia, leaves Santa Rita jail after being freed pending trial, in Dublin, California, U.S. November 21, 2019. REUTERS/Kate Munsch/File Photo
June 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court overturned on Thursday an obstruction conviction of a former Twitter employee accused of spying for Saudi Arabia, saying he was tried in the wrong state for knowingly falsifying a document to impede an FBI investigation.
The justices unanimously ruled that the U.S. Justice Department wrongly in 2022 secured Ahmad Abouammo’s conviction in California from a jury in San Francisco, when his only interactions with FBI agents had been at his home in Seattle in Washington state.
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Liberal Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the court, said that while the offense of falsifying a document to impede an investigation “is relatively easy to prove,” the law restricts where the prosecution can take someone to trial on that charge.
“The trial for falsifying a document must take place where the defendant falsified the document,” Kagan wrote. “Here that was in Seattle – meaning in venue terms, the Western District of Washington.”
The ruling did not touch on the other criminal counts for which Abouammo was convicted including charges that he acted as an unregistered agent of a foreign government and committed wire and honest services fraud. Abouammo, 47, was released from prison in June 2025 while the appeal was pending after being initially sentenced to 3-1/2 years in custody.
Tobias Loss-Eaton, a lawyer for Abouammo, declined to comment. Representatives for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, which had tried the case, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Abouammo worked at Twitter from 2013 to 2015, prior to the social media platform being acquired by billionaire Elon Musk and renamed X, and served as its media partnerships manager for the Middle East and North Africa region.
According to prosecutors, Abouammo while working at Twitter’s San Francisco office provided confidential information to a Saudi official about two Saudi dissidents posting on Twitter in exchange for a watch worth $42,000 and two wire transfers of $100,000 each.
Abouammo later relocated to Seattle and started a social-media consulting company. When two San Francisco-based FBI agents flew to Seattle to interview him at his home, Abouammo denied giving the Saudi official confidential information and said the payments were instead for consulting work he did, according to court records.
When the agents asked for documents to support his story, Abouammo created a fake invoice that he then emailed to one of them, prosecutors said, leading to the obstruction charge.
Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Will Dunham
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Nate Raymond reports on the federal judiciary and litigation. He can be reached at nate.raymond@thomsonreuters.com.
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