OpenAI Bugging: Alfozan in contact with the Saudi king before his arrest

The Saudi national accused of installing a recording device in a sensitive OpenAI management conference room in San Francisco was “in frequent communication via WhatsApp with a member of the Saudi royal family” throughout 2025 and 2026, prosecutors revealed in an explosive court filing on Sunday.

The defendant, Abdulrahman Alfozan, communicated with the Saudi king as recently as Oct. 5, four days before his arrest, the San Francisco U.S. Attorney’s Office said in the filing, which requests that he be held without bail.

Prosecutors did not identify the Saudi royal, nor did they indicate in the filing how Alfozan, who then worked as an engineer at OpenAI, knew the person.

“Among other things, the individual (the royal family member) told the defendant (Alfozan) that an artificial intelligence initiative was being launched in Saudi Arabia and wanted the defendant to join it,” prosecutors wrote in their filing.

“In May 2026, the individual told the defendant, ‘Saudi Arabia needs you more than (sic) the United States!’ to which the defendant responded ‘100,’ indicating he agreed,” prosecutors wrote.

“The individual repeatedly attempted to recruit the defendant and asked him when he planned to leave OpenAI,” prosecutors wrote. “At the time, the defendant stated that he would not leave until his shares were vested.”

The filing does not say that the Saudi king ordered Alfozan to install a recording device at OpenAI or to steal information from that AI giant.

Alfozan, who lives near the San Francisco airport, is a venture partner at Raed Ventures, a Saudi venture capital firm. Prince Khalid bin Bader Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family, joined the firm as a venture capital partner in 2025. In their filing Sunday, prosecutors did not mention that prince by name, nor did they indicate that the unidentified royal who communicated with Alfozan had ties to Raed.

In the same filing, prosecutors said the Saudi government and, soon after, a member of the Saudi military, booked separate flights for Alfozan’s wife, Lujain Alassaf, and their three-month-old infant son to leave the United States after his arrest on October 9, upsetting their plans to fly as a family to Saudi Arabia on October 12.

The wife and son flew from San Francisco to Doha, Qatar, on Oct. 10 on a business-class flight paid for by the unidentified member of the Saudi military, according to the filing.

The filing requests that a judge order Alfozan, 35, held without bail during his arraignment in U.S. District Court in San Francisco Monday morning.

Alfozan has been in jail since his arrest for using or attempting to use an electronic, mechanical or other device to intercept oral communications. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted. OpenAI fired him after his arrest.

Alfozan’s attorney, William Pernik, requested in a separate filing that the defendant be released with house arrest and GPS monitoring, as well as a bond co-signed by others, and “supported by the written commitment of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

The Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC, has not responded to CNBC’s requests for comment on Alfozan since his arrest was announced on October 13.

Prosecutors said that around the time Alfozan allegedly installed the recording device on September 28 on the back of a television in the conference room, “OpenAI executives met with government officials in that same room.”

“The defendant’s conduct could pose a danger to the national security of the United States,” prosecutors said in the filing.

FBI Director Kash Patel, when Alfozan’s arrest was announced Oct. 13, said he allegedly hid the recording device to secretly capture sensitive communications on the company’s artificial intelligence technology.

In their new filing, prosecutors also argued that Alfozan poses a flight risk because of his access to “sufficient resources…and what appears to be considerable support from a foreign government that does not (i) have an extradition treaty with the United States; (ii) unlimited resources; and (iii) the ability to provide extraordinary travel assistance, including based on similar circumstances in this district,” the filing states.

“He has the connections necessary not only to flee, but also to build a new life in Saudi Arabia. The Court should order the defendant’s detention pending trial,” prosecutors wrote.

Alfozan spent approximately 15 years in the United States, working at various technology companies, including Meta, and earning a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 2025. He is a legal permanent resident of the United States and has applied to become a naturalized citizen.

For his most recent job, as an OpenAI engineer, Alfozan was hired in July 2025 with an annual base salary of $325,000, which was later increased to $385,000, prosecutors said in their filing. It also received a new equity grant of $2.2 million in profit-sharing units, the filing said.

Alfozan planned to take two months of parental leave after the birth of his son, according to the filing. He and his family were scheduled to take a one-way flight to Saudi Arabia on October 12.

“On or about September 28, 2026 – approximately two weeks before their scheduled flight – the defendant surreptitiously inserted an audio recording device into a USB port on the back of a television in an OpenAI executive conference room, where the device remained for at least several days,” the filing states.

The conference room is frequently used for “discussions of highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information, including proprietary research, as well as non-public information about OpenAI’s technical advancements and strategic decisions, capabilities, priorities, government commitments, and commercial relationships,” the filing states.

The filing also states that Alfozan’s iPhone after his arrest contained photographs dated September 22-28 depicting “at least one additional concealed device as well as what appear to be the input/output panels of televisions and other electronic devices in various locations throughout OpenAI’s buildings, including another conference room where sensitive meetings frequently took place.”

“The defendant’s residence contained several electronic components similar to those of the
custom devices that Defendant installed in the OpenAI conference room,” the filing states.

OpenAI also found another recording device in a bag that Alfozan had inadvertently left in a printing room on Oct. 5, the same day he was seen on camera checking behind the TV where the first recording device had been left in the conference room, prosecutors said. The camera was installed after OpenAI discovered the recording device on September 30, prosecutors said.

His cell phone also contained a deleted note from September 2026 “with links to various recording devices, including devices manufactured by Seeed Studio, the manufacturer of the devices that OpenAI found in its offices, and the devices that FBI agents found in the defendant’s residence,” the filing states.

Another note, titled “OpenAI Leave,” suggests Alfozan planned to pick up “devices he had installed or intended to install” early and then extend his planned ‘parental leave’ as long as possible, the filing said.

In addition to being in contact with a member of the Saudi royal family, Alfozan “was seeking other opportunities in Saudi Arabia, including participating in the Misk Foundation’s ‘2030 Leaders’ program, which would have required his participation in person in Riyadh,” prosecutors said.

A day before leaving the United States with her baby, Alfozan’s wife told FBI agents who questioned her that “her U.S. visa was expiring and that she and her son were returning to Saudi Arabia permanently — and that her husband, the defendant, ultimately intended to do the same,” the filing states.

Alfozan’s lawyer Pernik, in his request for Alfozan’s release and home detention, said that “nationality does not constitute proof of flight” and that his planned trip to Saudi Arabia was for “family and immigration reasons.”

The 60-day grace period granted to Alfozan’s wife for her own visa expired on October 12, the date their flight was originally scheduled, the lawyer said.

“Mr Alfozan was informed that OpenAI found the device in accordance with its own documents and information from OpenAI.
public statements, approximately eight to ten days before his arrest,” Pernik wrote. “If his intention was to flee, he would have done so at that time.”

The lawyer also said Alfozan, who had booked a one-way ticket to Saudi Arabia for himself and his family, regularly purchased one-way tickets because he learned they were more cost-effective than changing flights at the last minute.

Pernik also wrote that the Saudi Consulate General confirmed in writing to the U.S. Office of Pretrial Services on Thursday that it “will not issue any travel documents” to Mr. Alfozan during his release and that, if he requests one, it “commits to promptly notifying U.S. Pretrial Services.”

The attorney argued that prosecutors have not demonstrated that Alfozan poses a serious risk of flight.

“Mr. Alfozan has lived in the United States for fifteen years and in the Bay Area for approximately ten years,” Pernik wrote. “Fifty-four people, including at least twenty-seven from the Bay Area, wrote to the Court and described someone who hosts dinners, greets newcomers, mentors students, and shows up at friends’ weddings, birthdays, and moving parties.”

“This is not the profile of a person who has one foot out there,” Pernik said.