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

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — 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. 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, prosecutors said in the filing.

“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 Saudi Arabia has no extradition treaty with the U.S. as they seek to detain Alfozan until trial. A judge will consider the request Monday in federal court in San Francisco.

Alfozan’s lawyers didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment ahead of Monday’s hearing.

But in their own court filings, they argued that Alfozan, who had worked at OpenAI since July 2025, had purchased one-way tickets for his family to Saudi Arabia more than two weeks before prosecutors allege the recording devices were installed. The defense said the couple planned to spend Alfozan’s roughly two-month paternity leave in Saudi Arabia following the birth of their U.S.-citizen son.

Prosecutors say after his arrest, Saudi officials purchased new plane tickets for the wife and son to leave the U.S. sooner than the Oct. 12 flight Alfozan initially booked.

Alfozan’s lawyers also argued that he was on track to become a naturalized U.S. citizen with an interview with federal officials scheduled next 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 argue 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 said what Alfozan might have wanted to do with the recordings, but say 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 say 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 say security cameras captured him entering the room and checking behind the television after installing the device. It remained there for several days before being found Sept. 30.

Prosecutors say the conference room was typically used for meetings involving company leaders, government officials and other executives and “discussions of highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information, including proprietary research, as well as nonpublic information.”

OpenAI has said 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.

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Marcelo reported from New York.