Ex-OpenAI worker accused of bugging conference room planned to fly to Saudi Arabia, prosecutors say

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A former OpenAI engineer accused of secretly putting a recording device in a conference room to gather information about the company was only a few days away from leaving for Saudi Arabia when he was arrested, federal prosecutors said in new court documents.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi citizen, was also fired from his job at OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, according to a government document filed Sunday. Prosecutors said his wife and young son left the United States the day after his arrest on a one-way ticket that a Saudi military official had booked and paid for.

“Ultimately, the defendant has little incentive to remain in the United States to see this case through,” federal prosecutors wrote. They said he had plenty of money, including significant pay earned during 10 years of work in the San Francisco Bay Area technology industry and money in at least two Saudi bank accounts. They also said he appeared to have strong support from a foreign government.

Prosecutors also pointed out that Saudi Arabia does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. They want Alfozan kept in custody until his trial. A federal judge in San Francisco is expected to consider their request on Monday.

Alfozan’s lawyers did not immediately respond to an email asking for comment before Monday’s hearing.

However, in their own court documents, his lawyers said Alfozan had bought one-way tickets for his family to travel to Saudi Arabia more than two weeks before the time prosecutors say the recording devices were installed. The defense said the couple planned to spend about two months in Saudi Arabia during Alfozan’s paternity leave after the birth of their son, who is a U.S. citizen.

Prosecutors said that after Alfozan’s arrest, Saudi officials bought new plane tickets so his wife and son could leave the United States earlier than the Oct. 12 flight Alfozan had originally booked.

Alfozan’s lawyers also said he was on track to become a U.S. citizen, with an interview with federal officials planned for next month. They said he had been a legal permanent resident since 2020, had lived in the United States for 15 years, and had attended MIT and the University of California, Berkeley.

“This was a long-held dream for the Alfozan family, as it is for so many immigrants,” his lawyers wrote. They said he had always planned to return to the San Francisco Bay Area, where his home, career and community were.

Instead of keeping Alfozan in federal custody, his lawyers say he should be held at his family’s home in the suburbs of San Francisco. They suggest using GPS monitoring, limiting his travel and requiring him to hand over his passport.

Prosecutors have not said what Alfozan planned to do with the recordings. But they said he was in frequent contact with a member of the Saudi royal family. According to prosecutors, the royal family member repeatedly tried to persuade Alfozan to join a new artificial intelligence business being started in Saudi Arabia.

In WhatsApp messages, Alfozan told the unnamed person that he would not leave OpenAI until his company stock had fully vested, prosecutors wrote. At the same time, he was looking into other job opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

Prosecutors said Alfozan hid an audio recording device inside toilet paper and plugged it into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room he was not allowed to enter. They said security cameras recorded him entering the room and checking behind the television after he installed the device. It stayed there for several days before someone found it on Sept. 30.

Prosecutors said the conference room was usually used for meetings with company leaders, government officials and other executives. These meetings included discussions about highly confidential technical, business and strategic matters, including the company’s own research and information that had not been made public.

OpenAI has said the recording device Alfozan used was advanced and designed to avoid being discovered. The company said it had strong encryption and advanced features for recording and monitoring sound. OpenAI also said it had evidence that Alfozan planned to put other listening devices in different parts of the office.

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

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Marcelo reported from New York.