(CNN) – Two former Twitter employees are being accused of spying on users on behalf of Saudi Arabia.
According to the justice department, Ali Alzabarah, a Saudi national, and Ahmad Abouammo, a US citizen, allegedly used their access to target known critics of the Saudi royal family.
Federal prosecutors say a third person was arrested for allegedly giving the men hundreds of thousands of dollars for helping with the operation.
All three men are charged with acting as illegal agents of a foreign government.
No Saudi government officials were named in the arrest report.
Court documents show one of the men implicated in the scheme is an associate of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who the CIA said likely ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last year.
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