Ex-OpenAI engineer accused of bugging conference room planned to flee to Saudi Arabia, prosecutors say
Federal prosecutors allege the former OpenAI engineer, charged with secretly installing a recording device, was days away from leaving the U.S. for Saudi Arabia before his arrest.
A former OpenAI engineer charged with secretly installing a recording device in a conference room to glean company details had been “mere days” away from absconding to Saudi Arabia before his arrest, federal prosecutors said in new court filings.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national, was also fired from his job at the ChatGPT maker, according to a government memo filed Sunday. Prosecutors stated his wife and young son left the country the day after his arrest on a one-way ticket booked and paid for by a Saudi military official.
"Ultimately, the defendant has little incentive to remain in the United States to see this case through," federal prosecutors wrote. "He has ample resources — including his significant compensation from a decade of high-tech employment in the Bay Area and at least two bank accounts in Saudi Arabia — and what appears to be considerable support from a foreign government."
Prosecutors also noted that Saudi Arabia has no extradition treaty with the U.S. as they seek to detain Alfozan until trial. A judge was scheduled to consider the request Monday in federal court in San Francisco.
Alfozan’s lawyers argued that he was on track to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, with an interview with federal officials scheduled for the following month. They said he has been a legal permanent resident since 2020, has lived in the U.S. for 15 years and 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. "His plan was always to return to the Bay Area, where his home, his career, and his community are."
Rather than remain in federal custody, Alfozan’s lawyers argued he should be confined to his family’s home in the San Francisco suburbs, with GPS monitoring, travel restrictions and a requirement to surrender his passport.
Prosecutors have not specified what Alfozan might have wanted to do with the recordings, but stated he was in “frequent communication” with a member of the Saudi royal family. They said the royal family member repeatedly tried to recruit Alfozan to an artificial intelligence venture being launched in Saudi Arabia.
Alfozan told the unnamed person in WhatsApp messages that he wouldn’t leave OpenAI until his stock was vested, even as he explored other career opportunities in the Middle Eastern kingdom, prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors said Alfozan concealed an audio recording device in toilet paper and plugged it into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room he wasn't authorized to access. They claim security cameras captured him entering the room and checking behind the television after installing the device. The device remained there for several days before being discovered on September 30.
Prosecutors said the conference room was typically used for meetings involving company leaders, government officials and other executives, and for “discussions of highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information, including proprietary research, as well as nonpublic information.”
OpenAI has stated the recording device Alfozan used was sophisticated, designed to evade detection and featured advanced encryption and audio-monitoring capabilities. They also said they had evidence Alfozan planned to place other listening devices elsewhere in the office.
Alfozan has been charged with using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications. If convicted, he faces a five-year prison sentence.