Ex-OpenAI Engineer Detained in Spy Device Case as Saudi Royal Contacts Emerge

A U.S. court on Monday approved the U.S. government's request to keep a former OpenAI engineer in custody. He is accused of placing a recording device in an executive meeting room at the company's San Francisco office to allegedly steal sensitive information.

In a new court filing on Sunday, prosecutors said that Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi citizen, was "in frequent communications via WhatsApp with a member of the Saudi Royal Family" throughout 2025 and 2026. According to the filing, Alfozan last spoke with the Saudi royal on October 5, 2026, four days before his arrest.

"Among other things, the individual told the defendant that an artificial intelligence initiative was being launched in Saudi Arabia and wanted the defendant to join it," the filing says. "In May 2026, the individual told the defendant, 'Saudi needs you more then [sic] the US!' to which the defendant responded '100,' indicating he agreed."

The Saudi royal is said to have tried several times to recruit Alfozan and asked when he planned to leave OpenAI. Alfozan reportedly said he would stay until his company stock became fully available to him.

Alfozan joined OpenAI as an engineer around July 2025, with a yearly base salary of $385,000. Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced his arrest. He is accused of secretly placing an audio recording device in a USB port on the back of a television in the executive meeting room to record sensitive conversations.

Prosecutors also say the 35-year-old changed the device to stop it from transferring data to the television and encrypted the files saved on its microSD card. He also used his wife's personal ChatGPT account to look up how to "build a continuous audio recorder" that could "captur[e] microphone audio and save compressed WAV recordings to an SD card."

"In the days and weeks before placing the device, the defendant (i) used an OpenAI productivity agent to find out which 'meeting rooms' OpenAI 'leadership and exec[utives]' used, and where they met with 'external partners'; and (ii) spent considerable time near the conference room where he later installed the device," the filing said.

Alfozan has been charged with using or trying to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to secretly intercept spoken conversations. If found guilty, he could face up to five years in prison.

Prosecutors also argued that Alfozan might flee. According to the filing, he has "ample resources... and what appears to be considerable support from a foreign government that has (i) no extradition treaty with the United States; (ii) limitless resources; and (iii) the ability to provide extraordinary travel assistance."

Shortly after news of his arrest became public, reports emerged that Alfozan had planned to travel to Riyadh with his wife and son on a one-way ticket on October 12, 2026. He was arrested three days before that date, but his wife and son are said to have already left the United States without him.

The day before leaving, Alfozan's wife allegedly told agents from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that her U.S. visa was about to expire and that she and her son were moving back to Saudi Arabia permanently.

"The defendant went to significant lengths to create customized, encrypted recording devices to secretly record highly sensitive meetings involving senior OpenAI personnel and executives, high-level business counterparts, and government officials, all while communicating with individuals of significance in Saudi Arabia and pursuing opportunities in – and making plans to travel to – Saudi Arabia," the filing said.

Prosecutors said the U.S. government's investigation is still underway. A search of Alfozan's home and an "initial review" of his electronic devices, including his cellphone, uncovered several pieces of evidence:

• Investigators found several electronic parts in his home that were similar to parts used in the custom recording devices he allegedly placed in the OpenAI meeting room and kept in a bag that is now missing.
• Photos taken with his iPhone between September 22 and 28, 2026, showed one more hidden recording device. The photos also appeared to show input and output panels on televisions and other electronic equipment in several OpenAI buildings, including a second meeting room where sensitive discussions took place.
• A deleted note on his cellphone from September 2026 contained links to different recording devices, including products made by Seeed Studio. The same manufacturer made devices found in OpenAI offices and at his home.
• His browsing history showed that he opened a folder called "Saudi Gov Docs" on October 4, 2026. Between July 6 and September 21, 2026, he also used an OpenAI productivity agent to ask about business and government activities involving Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT).

"The defendant leveraged his skills as a highly-educated engineer to create sophisticated recording devices that – the evidence strongly suggests – he intended to bring with him to Saudi Arabia," the filing said.

"Whether the defendant wanted to record OpenAI meetings to enrich himself by improving his own business opportunities, to help a foreign government, or both, his conduct is criminal and it presents a danger to innovation in Silicon Valley and a concern for the national security of the United States."