Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national and former OpenAI engineer, allegedly booked a one-way ticket to Saudi Arabia with his family just days before his arrest for installing a covert recording device in an executive conference room at OpenAI. Prosecutors cited this travel plan as an incentive for him to flee. While OpenAI fired Alfozan and stated there’s no indication of data exfiltration, the incident highlights potential state-sponsored espionage given his role as a venture partner at Saudi Arabia’s Raed Ventures, a firm with ties to the Saudi government.
In a significant development surrounding the alleged bugging of OpenAI, federal prosecutors revealed that Abdulrahman Alfozan, the Saudi national accused of covertly installing a recording device in an executive conference room, had secured a one-way flight for himself, his wife, and a third family member to Saudi Arabia just days before his arrest. This revelation emerged from a newly unsealed court filing, presented to a judge by the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco.
The court document, dated October 8, argued that Alfozan possessed "the means — and will have the incentive — to flee the United States sooner if he learns about this case before he is arrested." The flight, scheduled for October 12 from San Francisco to Saudi Arabia via Istanbul, prompted the judge to grant a sealing request, leading to Alfozan's arrest on October 9. He has remained in custody since then.
VIDEO: DOJ says Saudi national arrested for installing audio recording device at OpenAI (Source: The Exchange)
Alfozan, 35, also holds a position as a venture partner at Raed Ventures, a Saudi Arabian venture capital firm that includes a prince from the nation’s ruling royal family among its partners. Raed Ventures, which focuses its investments in the Middle East, describes Alfozan on its website as a "seasoned technology professional with deep experience in startups, entrepreneurship, and scaling tech companies," and an "Engineering Lead at OpenAI, with a focus on AI Agents and the data platform."
He reportedly joined Raed Ventures on February 8, 2025, shortly after Prince Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud became a venture partner. The Department of Justice states Alfozan began working at OpenAI in July 2025; the company confirmed his termination this month.
According to a Financial Times report, Alfozan facilitated tours for Saudi tech influencers visiting OpenAI's San Francisco offices in September. A former CIA official, speaking anonymously, characterized Raed Ventures as "basically a state organ" of the Saudi government, noting its ties to Saudi Venture Capital, a subsidiary of SME Bank, which is part of the Saudi National Development Fund.
Prince Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud, besides being a venture partner at Raed, is also a member of the Al Saud royal family and the managing director and vice chairman of his family's private office. The former CIA official suggested that if Alfozan’s alleged actions are state-sponsored espionage, it signals that "in the AI and tech boom, even the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has assessed that the risk is worth the gain to engage in economic espionage against a close ally," and that this incident could be "the tip of the iceberg."
It is important to note that the criminal complaint against Alfozan does not accuse Raed Ventures or its other partners of awareness regarding his alleged actions at OpenAI.
Photo of Abdulrahman Alfozan checking a recording device in OpenAI's office in San Francisco, California. (Courtesy: U.S. Department of Justice)
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California's National Security, Cyber & Special Prosecutions Section is prosecuting the case. Alfozan faces one count of using or attempting to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. He is currently awaiting an Oct. 19 detention hearing where his lawyer may argue for his release on bond. Notably, he is not charged with corporate espionage or stealing trade secrets.
Earlier this year, OpenAI held discussions with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund, regarding potential investments in the AI company.
Alfozan's criminal defense attorney, William Pernik, stated, "At this point, the information provided has been extremely limited, as the charging documents have just been unsealed yesterday." Pernik emphasized Alfozan's immigrant background and contributions to the American tech sector, describing the allegations as "wholly out of character." He added, "There is no evidence to suggest otherwise at this time that has been shared with us," regarding the absence of corporate espionage charges, and asserted that "national origins is — and always should be — a protected status under our system of laws."
OpenAI, which declined to comment on its awareness of Alfozan's Saudi firm position or specifics about the conference room, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that "At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data." The company reiterated its commitment to protecting its technology, data, and people, highlighting its robust security program designed to counter various threat actors, including nation-states.
In a September 24 podcast interview with Identity Capital, Alfozan recounted a 2016 meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other Saudi tech professionals in Silicon Valley. During this meeting, they discussed contributing their technical skills back to Saudi Arabia. Bin Salman encouraged them to gain more experience before returning to aid the country's "Vision 2030" economic diversification plan. Alfozan described himself as an "introvert" who nonetheless actively supports young professionals in Silicon Valley.
The discovery of the recording device occurred on September 30, when OpenAI staff found a "surreptitious audio recording device inserted into a USB port on the back of a television in" a conference room. The device, equipped with a camera sensor, digital microphone, and microSD storage, was found hidden in toilet paper. This particular conference room is typically reserved for executives and executive assistants, used for highly confidential discussions with internal leadership, and external government and business partners.
The recording device planted at OpenAI's office. (Courtesy: U.S. Department of Justice)
Closed-circuit TV footage showed Alfozan near the conference room on multiple occasions in September. Furthermore, in August and September, he allegedly used an AI productivity tool to inquire about OpenAI's building addresses, meeting rooms, capacities, calendars, and "external partner meetings." A chatbot linked to his spouse, sharing similar characteristics with his own account, reportedly submitted detailed prompts on how to build, customize, install, and remotely access a recording device. His spouse has not been charged.
After the initial device was found, OpenAI installed a camera in the room, which captured Alfozan on October 5 "checking behind the television into which Recording Device 1 had been inserted." On the same day, Alfozan left a bag unattended in a printer room, where security found his wallet, ID, and "another recording device" from the same Chinese manufacturer, Seeed. This second device was also customized to obfuscate stored communications. When his bag was returned without the device, Alfozan inquired about other missing items but not the recording device.
Scott Schelble, special agent in charge of the FBI San Francisco Field Office, commented on the arrest, stating, "Any attempt to illicitly obtain protected information from U.S. super intelligence and technology companies threatens both American innovation and the national security interests those advancements support."
Before his tenure at OpenAI, Alfozan boasted a significant career in the Bay Area tech scene. His LinkedIn profile describes him as an "Experienced Engineering Lead with 11 years of building scalable and reliable software systems in the data and AI/ML domains." He was a founding engineer at Nash, an AI logistics firm, and a senior systems engineer at Meta (Facebook's parent company) from 2017 to 2022. His internships included Microsoft in 2014.
Academically, Alfozan studied computer science and engineering at MIT (2011-2014, 2016) without completing a degree, and earned a master's degree in data science from UC Berkeley (2023-2025). He also held a research intern position at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia in 2016 and won a $50,000 prize in the Saudi Covid-19 Challenge hackathon in 2020.
Alfozan's home in Millbrae, California, overlooks San Francisco Bay, a popular suburb for tech workers. The Financial Times noted his upbringing in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, and his father's account of Alfozan's prodigious childhood intellect, reading encyclopedias cover to cover in a government-backed program for gifted children.
Pernik reiterated the defense's intention to thoroughly investigate all evidence and present appropriate defenses, emphasizing that Alfozan is charged with violating a federal recording statute, not with foreign agency or trade secret theft, and that no evidence has been shared to suggest otherwise.
