Abdulrahman Alfozan, the OpenAI engineer accused of secretly placing a listening device in an executive meeting room, exchanged frequent WhatsApp messages with a Saudi royal during 2025 and 2026, prosecutors said in a court filing Sunday, according to CNBC.
The last contact came on Oct. 5, four days before Alfozan's arrest. Prosecutors did not say who the royal is or how Alfozan, 35, came to be acquainted with him or her. The filing asks a judge to keep him in custody with no bail option, ahead of his Monday morning appearance in San Francisco's U.S. District Court.
Prosecutors said the royal informed Alfozan of a new Saudi AI program and wanted him to be part of it. In May 2026, the royal wrote, "Saudi needs you more then [sic] the U.S.!" and Alfozan answered "100," according to the filing. The royal pressed him repeatedly to sign on and inquired about the date he intended to quit OpenAI. Alfozan said he would stay until his stock vested.
The filing does not allege that the royal told Alfozan to plant a listening device at OpenAI or to remove information from the company.
Prosecutors argued Alfozan is a flight risk. They cited "considerable support from a foreign government" that has no extradition treaty with the United States, according to CNBC. The filing said the Saudi government and a Saudi military member each arranged their own flights out of the country for Alfozan's wife, Lujain Alassaf, and their infant son, who is three months old, after his arrest derailed a family trip to Saudi Arabia planned for Oct. 12. According to the filing, the two left San Francisco on Oct. 10 bound for Doha, Qatar, using a business-class ticket that the military member paid for.
Alfozan's lawyer, William Pernik, filed a separate request for release with home detention, GPS monitoring and a co-signed bond. Pernik wrote that "nationality is not evidence of flight" and that the planned travel was for "family and immigration reasons." He said the Saudi Consulate General told U.S. Pretrial Services in writing that it "will not issue any travel documents" to Alfozan during his release.
Alfozan was arrested Oct. 9 and charged with using, or attempting to use, a device to eavesdrop on oral communications. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted. OpenAI fired him after the arrest.
Prosecutors had said in an earlier filing that Alfozan had a one-way ticket to Saudi Arabia for Oct. 12, three days after he was taken into custody. Prosecutors said he put the device into a USB port behind a television in the conference room on or about Sept. 28. Meetings in the room dealt with sensitive technical and strategic matters, and around that time OpenAI leaders sat down there with government officials, the filing said.
Alfozan works as a venture partner for Raed Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Saudi Arabia. Prince Khalid bin Bader Al Saud, who belongs to the royal family, became a venture partner at the firm in 2025, according to CNBC. Prosecutors did not identify the royal who messaged Alfozan or say whether that person was connected to Raed.
The Saudi embassy in Washington did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.