Prosecutors allege Saudi support for former OpenAI employee accused of planting recorder

US prosecutors have asked a federal judge in San Francisco to keep former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan in custody pending trial, alleging in a filing made public late October 18 that he appeared to have received considerable support from the Saudi government. The request adds a potential flight-risk argument to the case against Alfozan, who is accused of placing a recording device in an OpenAI conference room.

Alfozan, 35, is a Saudi national and lawful permanent resident of the United States, Reuters reported. Prosecutors said he had frequently communicated with an unnamed member of the Saudi royal family, including as recently as October 5, according to Business Insider’s account of the filing.

What prosecutors cited in the detention request

The FBI arrested Alfozan on October 9, Business Insider reported. According to the criminal complaint described by Business Insider and Reuters, prosecutors accuse him of plugging a recording device into the back of a television in an executive conference room at an OpenAI building. OpenAI previously said it found the device on September 30 and referred the matter to the FBI. Prosecutors said company executives met government officials in the room around the time the device was allegedly installed.

The new filing follows the earlier charges over the device. NewsJaws previously reported on the recording-device charge against the OpenAI engineer.

Alfozan’s lawyer disputes the flight-risk claim

In a separate filing, Alfozan’s lawyer, William Pernik, argued that his client was not a flight risk. Pernik said Alfozan knew OpenAI had found the device roughly eight to 10 days before his arrest but had not fled. He also challenged the significance of a one-way flight booking, saying 96 of 138 airline bookings in Alfozan’s email since January 2021 were for one-way tickets, Business Insider reported.

The defense proposed GPS monitoring, home detention, surrender of Alfozan’s passport, travel limits within Northern California and a bond backed by community co-signers and a written undertaking from the Saudi consulate, according to Business Insider. Reuters reported that Alfozan was scheduled to appear in federal court later on October 19; the hearing’s outcome was not immediately clear.

The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Prosecutors said the investigation remained active and additional charges could be brought, Reuters reported.