A former OpenAI engineer who allegedly installed a sophisticated listening device in an executive conference room was in close contact with a member of the Saudi royal family and was planning to leave the United States for Riyadh when authorities arrested him, federal prosecutors said Sunday in a court memo. Abdulrahman Alfozan is accused of using artificial intelligence tools to help him develop encrypted recording devices and identify meeting rooms used by OpenAI executives, government officials and business partners. The Saudi national earned an annual salary of $385,000 at OpenAI and received a $2.2 million equity grant when he first joined the company in July 2025. In an 11-page filing, prosecutors wrote that investigators recovered evidence suggesting Alfozan may have planned to place even more devices inside OpenAI’s offices. Prosecutors also revealed that the suspect engaged in WhatsApp messages with an unidentified Saudi royal who repeatedly encouraged him to return to the kingdom and join a Saudi AI initiative. The filing also shows photographs of other possible surveillance locations, internal searches related to meetings between OpenAI and Saudi government officials, and notes suggesting he planned to recover the devices before leaving the company. Investigators allege that on September 28, Alfozan installed a “surreptitious audio recording device into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive OpenAI conference room, where the device remained for at least several days.” Prosecutors allege that he “modified the device to prevent data transfer between it and the television in which it was inserted” and “had also encrypted the content stored on the device’s microSD.” Federal prosecutors allege that this photo, dated October 5, 2026, shows former OpenAI employee Abdulrahman Alfozan looking behind a television in an executive conference room where a recording device had been inserted. Department of Justice/Government Showcase In the days before installing the device, investigators say Alfozan used an AI chatbot account belonging to his wife to research how to customize the recording device, including how to: “build a continuous audio recorder,” “capture[e] microphone audio and save compressed WAV recordings to an SD card”, “enhance audio and live listening”, “develop…voice-activated recordings”, “add access and controls to the browser”, including “live listening”, and “encrypt the SD card” and “decrypt and recover recordings from the removed card”. progress and strategic decisions, capabilities, priorities, government commitments and business relationships. According to the filing, investigators determined that in the “days surrounding the time period in which the device was installed, OpenAI executives met with government officials in that same room,” alleging that “the defendant’s conduct could pose a danger to the national security of the United States.” Prosecutors also revealed that his cell phone contained photographs from at least one other hidden recorder, as well as electronic equipment at another OpenAI meeting. Prosecutors allege that throughout 2025 and 2026, Alfozan “was in frequent communication via WhatsApp with a member of the Saudi Royal Family, including as recently as October 5, 2026.” [sic] “USA!” the member wrote, as part of a campaign to recruit the accused. Alfozan agreed, but said he would not leave until his shares were vested. The suspect was arrested on October 9, three days before he was due to leave San Francisco with his wife and young son on a one-way flight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Instead, his wife and three-month-old son left the country the next day on business class tickets purchased by a Saudi military officer, the members allege. Prior to his arrest, the defendant had been scheduled to take two months of parental leave starting in October 2026. Alfozan, who has no criminal record, according to the record, became a permanent resident of the United States in September 2020 and subsequently applied for citizenship after his arrest. A detention hearing was scheduled for Monday before US Magistrate Judge Alex Tse.
