Accused OpenAI spy had folder called “Saudi Gov Docs,” FBI says

On Monday, a court agreed with the US government's request to keep a former OpenAI engineer in jail. He is accused of secretly placing a recording device in a highly secret meeting room to steal important information from the AI company.

In a court filing on Sunday, US attorney Craig Missakian argued that Abdulrahman Alfozan must remain in jail while the government tries to prove that he deliberately spied on OpenAI. The government said he may have done this to make money or improve his own business, to help Saudi Arabia, or both.

The government said evidence showed that Alfozan had exchanged WhatsApp messages with a member of the Saudi royal family. At the same time, he was looking for ways to move back to Saudi Arabia permanently, as the country was making a major effort to develop AI. Shortly before his arrest, the FBI found that he had opened a folder called “Saudi Gov Docs” on his iPhone. The phone also allegedly contained photos of a second recording device he had placed in OpenAI offices.

Missakian argued that Alfozan, a Saudi citizen and a lawful permanent resident of the US, might flee because there was a lot of evidence against him and he appeared to have strong support from the Saudi government.

Missakian said the FBI arrested Alfozan just days before he was due to leave the country by plane. The US attorney said Alfozan had already booked a one-way ticket to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, for himself, his wife, and their baby. The ticket was allegedly “paid for by the Saudi government.” After his arrest, his wife and son booked an earlier flight and left the US without him. The government said it then found that “a member of the Saudi military booked and paid for yet another one-way ticket for the defendant’s wife and son, this one business class to Doha, Qatar.”

The US government argued that Alfozan had “ample resources” to escape to Saudi Arabia after earning “significant compensation from a decade of high-tech employment in the Bay Area.” The government also said he had “at least two bank accounts in Saudi Arabia.”

To support its request to keep Alfozan in jail, the government pointed to a case in which former Twitter employees were charged with spying for the Saudi government. One former Twitter employee, Ali Alzabarah, still faces charges, the US said. One reason is that “a Saudi foreign official” helped arrange “a next-day flight to Saudi Arabia” shortly after Twitter confronted him.

Missakian asked the court to keep Alfozan in jail until trial because he would likely have “little incentive to remain in the United States to see this case through.”

“Although FBI agents seized the defendant’s Saudi passport when they arrested him, there is nothing to stop the defendant, if he is released, from obtaining any necessary travel documents and fleeing the United States—with or without the help of a foreign government that has previously assisted its citizens depart the United States under similar circumstances,” Missakian's filing argued.

On Monday, Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse agreed at a hearing that Alfozan should remain in jail while preparing his defense, Business Insider reported.

Alfozan’s alleged plan to escape

When Alfozan was arrested, he was living with his family in California. He moved to the US in 2009 and earned technical degrees from MIT and UC Berkeley. After working in Silicon Valley for more than 10 years, he joined OpenAI “as an engineer in or around July 2025 with an annual base salary of $325,000,” according to the government's court filing. He also received “a new hire equity grant of $2,200,000 in profit participation units.”

According to the allegations, Alfozan began planning to spy on OpenAI in the months after joining the company. OpenAI did not know anything might be wrong and was preparing to give him parental leave. His wife's student visa had expired, and he planned to use two months of paid leave to help her move permanently back to Saudi Arabia with their baby, the US filing said.

But he did not take the flight. About two weeks before the flight was booked, OpenAI found a recording device hidden in a conference room. The US court filing said the device had been there for “at least multiple days” and was in place during a highly secret meeting with US government officials.

“In the days surrounding the time period that the device was installed, OpenAI executives met with government officials in that very room,” the filing said. “Defendant’s conduct could pose a danger to the national security of the United States.”

In their complaint, US officials said Alfozan used an OpenAI work assistant to look into which conference rooms might be easiest to use for spying. Records also suggested that he used his wife's personal ChatGPT account to find ways to change his hidden recording devices so they would start recording automatically when they detected speech and could be controlled from a distance.

After his arrest, Alfozan refused to answer FBI questions and asked for his lawyer. However, the government filing said his wife confirmed that she had seen her ChatGPT account open on his laptop when she was asked about her plans to move back to Saudi Arabia.

FBI finds a folder called “Saudi Gov Docs”

The government's request to keep Alfozan in jail included more details about the search of his home than had been reported before.

The FBI allegedly found recording devices like those placed in OpenAI offices, along with evidence that Alfozan may have planted at least one more hidden recording device. Photos on his iPhone showed “at least one additional concealed recording device as well as what appear to be the input/output panels on televisions and other electronic devices in various locations in OpenAI buildings, including another conference room where sensitive meetings frequently occurred,” the filing said.

OpenAI and the US government know that Saudi Arabia has spent this year working to advance its AI technology through a program called “Vision 2030.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also joined Donald Trump at a meeting where the Saudi government's plans to expand AI were praised.

However, the US closely protects information held by its leading AI companies. The FBI was especially concerned by WhatsApp messages on Alfozan's phone. The messages suggested that “a member of the Saudi Royal Family” was trying to recruit him. The messages began in 2025, the same year he joined OpenAI, and continued until October 5. In one exchange, Alfozan replied “100” to a message saying, “Saudi needs you more then [sic] the US!”

The US government also said Alfozan's web browsing history on his iPhone raised concerns. The FBI found that he opened a folder called “Saudi Gov Docs” on October 4. The US did not reveal what was inside the folder. However, officials described what Alfozan did after opening it, which they said might suggest he was helping the Saudi government. Records showed that he used OpenAI's work assistant to ask, “who from OpenAI could be suitable to attend a high level informal meeting with ministers in Saudi Arabia? List 10 people and why each. Ideally high levels.”

“Every incentive to flee”

Alfozan faces a maximum prison sentence of five years for illegally recording OpenAI meetings. But the government said it expects more serious charges may be brought as more evidence is found.

“Here, the nature and circumstances of the offense are indisputably serious,” the filing said. “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 US said Alfozan may have acted alone. However, officials said they did not need to prove that he planted the recording devices for the Saudi government for his actions to be a crime.

“Whether the defendant wanted to record OpenAI meetings to enrich himself by enhancing his own business prospects, or to provide aid [to] a foreign government, or both, his conduct is criminal and it presents a danger to innovation in the Silicon Valley and a concern for the national security of the United States,” the US argued.

The US asked the court to decide that Alfozan might flee. Officials argued that he “has every incentive to flee” and might use the information he allegedly stole from OpenAI to help him become an important contributor to Saudi Arabia's AI plans.

“He faces prison time in the United States,” the filing said. “His wife and son are now in Saudi Arabia and have no plans to return. He has the resources to flee. He has the connections needed not only to flee, but to build a new life in Saudi Arabia.”