US prosecutors said on Monday that Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi citizen accused of hiding a recording device at OpenAI's headquarters “presents an ongoing danger” and should not be released from custody.
In a court filing, the US Justice Department responded to a request from Mr Alfozan's lawyer in California that sought to grant his release amid the continuing investigation, which is expected to culminate in a criminal trial.
“The defendant presents an ongoing danger to the community and a serious risk of flight that no set of release conditions can reasonably mitigate,” Craig Missakian, a lawyer for the US Justice Department wrote.
According to the department's memo in support of continuing the suspect's detention, “a member of the Saudi military booked and paid for” a flight for Mr Alfozan's wife and son several days after he was arrested.
“The day before she left the US, the defendant’s wife told the FBI agents who interviewed her that her US visa was expiring and that she and her son were permanently moving back to Saudi Arabia – and that her husband, the defendant, eventually intended to do the same,” US prosecutors wrote.
Mr Alfozan, a Saudi citizen and former OpenAI employee, was arrested on October 8 over accusations he had hidden a recording device at the company's offices in San Francisco.
Investigators said last week that Mr Alfozan planted the device – a Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-S3, manufactured by a company in China – behind a television in a conference room.
The device has a “thumb-sized development board with a detachable camera sensor, digital microphone and micro-SD storage”, the Justice Department said.
Mr Alfozan started working for the OpenAI product team in July last year. He was fired on the same day of his arrest, the company said.
According to the original criminal complaint previous filed by prosecutors, actions taken by Mr Alfozan indicated he planned to depart the US swiftly.
“Indeed, the defendant, his wife and a third family member have booked one-way tickets from San Francisco to Saudi Arabia (via Istanbul) … and defendant has the means and the incentive to flee the US sooner if he learns about this case before he is arrested,” the initial filing reads.
Last week, California lawyer William Pernik told The National he was still waiting to see what other evidence the government has against his client and that he plans on presenting all appropriate defences in court.
“Like countless Americans, Mr Alfozan came to this country years ago as a young person with a dream,” Mr Pernik said in an email. “These allegations appear wholly out of character for him, and we will relentlessly investigate all evidence produced by the government in this case to understand what actually happened, who was responsible and any possible reasons why.”
On Friday, Mr Pernik filed a court request to get Mr Alfozan out of custody on the condition he wears a GPS ankle tag, remains at his home in Millbrae, California and surrenders his passport.
The filing also proposed a “an appearance bond co-signed by sureties from his Bay Area community and supported by the written undertaking of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.
Who is Abdulrahman Alfozan?
According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Alfozan has lived in California since 2015 and started working at OpenAI as a lead engineer in 2025. Before his years in California, he was an intern at Meta, Microsoft and SAP.
Mr Alfozan received his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016 and then earned a master's degree in 2025 from the University of California-Berkeley.
According to the Justice Department, he was arrested on October 9 and charged with using an electronic, mechanical or other device to intercept oral communications. He is scheduled to appear in court on 19 for a detention hearing.
“If convicted, Alfozan faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by three years of supervised release,” a press release from the Justice Department read.
OpenAI has faced a barrage of criticism from employees amid allegations it has disregarded the need for regulations when developing AI technology. American AI companies such as OpenAI also face stiff competition from China, as Washington and Beijing vie for dominance in the technology race. Companies have gone to great lengths to protect intellectual property and trade secrets.