{"ID":63859,"name":"Abouammo v. United States","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/2025\/25-5146","view_count":0,"docket_number":"25-5146","additional_docket_numbers":null,"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Writ of \u003Ci\u003Ecertiorari\u003C\/i\u003E","first_party":"Ahmad Abouammo","second_party":"United States of America","timeline":[{"event":"Granted","dates":[1764914400],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/55756"},{"event":"Argued","dates":[1774846800],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/55811"}],"lower_court":{"ID":5,"name":"United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/taxonomy\/term\/5"},"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003EIn 2013, Twitter hired Ahmad Abouammo, a U.S. citizen, as a Media Partnerships Manager responsible for high-profile users in the Middle East and North Africa. Through this role, he became involved with Bader Binasaker, a close aide to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Beginning in 2014, Abouammo used his access to Twitter\u2019s proprietary tools to gather nonpublic information\u2014including email addresses, phone numbers, and IP data\u2014about Saudi dissident Twitter users, particularly accounts critical of the Saudi royal family. He transmitted this information to Binasaker\u2014circumstantially inferred through encrypted messaging services\u2014and was rewarded with lavish gifts, including a luxury Hublot watch, and over $300,000 in wire transfers to a Lebanese bank account held in his father\u2019s name. Communication between the two included expressions of intent to \u201cdelete evil,\u201d suggesting the sensitive nature of their collaboration.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter leaving Twitter in 2015, Abouammo continued to facilitate communication between Saudi representatives and Twitter, allegedly under the guise of social media consulting. In October 2018, FBI agents approached him as part of an investigation into unauthorized access of Twitter accounts connected to Saudi espionage. During the interview at his Seattle home, Abouammo denied wrongdoing and claimed he was paid for legitimate consulting. While the agents waited in his home, Abouammo fabricated an invoice to substantiate this claim and emailed it to them. The actions connected to the allegedly falsified document\u2014including the questioning, fabrication, and transmission\u2014all took place in Seattle. The agents who received the document, though physically present in Seattle at the time, worked out of the FBI field office in San Francisco.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California indicted Abouammo for falsifying a record with intent to obstruct a federal investigation, in violation of 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 1519, among other charges. Abouammo moved to dismiss the falsification count for improper venue, arguing that all relevant conduct occurred in Seattle. The district court denied the motion, holding venue proper in the Northern District because the statute required an intent to obstruct an investigation based there. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding that venue is proper in a district where the obstructed investigation occurred, even if none of the defendant\u2019s physical conduct took place there.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003EIs venue proper in a district where no offense conduct took place, so long as the statute\u2019s intent element \u201ccontemplates\u201d effects that could occur there?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n","conclusion":"\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n","advocates":[{"advocate":{"ID":63891,"name":"Tobias S. 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