A Saudi national and software engineer working for OpenAI in San Francisco was arrested by federal authorities after company employees found a sophisticated recording device inside one of their offices, prosecutors and company officials confirmed on Oct. 13.
The court complaint, which was unsealed Tuesday, alleges Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, concealed the device inside an executive conference room to secretly capture the company’s communications about its AI technology.
Alfozan was arrested on Oct. 9 and made his first appearance in federal court Tuesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco.
Federal investigators claimed in court documents OpenAI found the audio recording device on Sept. 30 wrapped in toilet paper and inserted into a port on the back of a television in an executive conference room at the company’s San Francisco office.
OpenAI staff identified a specific employee who they say planted the recorder a few days earlier by using the company’s models to understand the device and where it had come from, according to a statement posted by OpenAI Tuesday.
The information was given to the FBI, and agents quickly made an arrest.
“At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data. The employee was terminated,” OpenAI stated.
FBI agents said the contents found on the recording device were encrypted.
Closed-circuit television footage taken inside the OpenAI office allegedly showed Alfozan appearing near the executive conference room multiple times before the device was found, despite having no authority to access the room or participate in meetings held in it, according to prosecutors.
Meetings held in the room frequently involved highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic discussions. Executives also talked about proprietary research, product plans, and business-development opportunities, the court complaint stated.
Confidential information about OpenAI’s technical progress and strategic decisions, capabilities, priorities, government engagements, and commercial relationships were also discussed in the executive room, according to prosecutors.
The court complaint alleges Alfozan used a productivity tool to make several inquiries about OpenAI’s building addresses, meeting rooms, meeting room capacities, calendars, and locations of leadership and executive, and partner meetings.
A chatbot account associated with Alfonzo’s wife allegedly also made queries starting Sept. 24 related to building, customization, installation, audio recording, testing, obfuscating, and remotely accessing a device, according to investigators.
On Oct. 5, prosecutors allege Alfozan entered the conference room and appeared to look behind the television for the recording device. He also allegedly left behind a bag in a different room in the building. OpenAI staff said they opened the bag and found Alfozan’s wallet and identification, and another similar recording device.
“For us it is a matter of national security,” said U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian. “This arrest highlights our relentless efforts in partnership with the FBI to identify and prosecute those who seek to steal our technology, as alleged in the complaint.”
Alfozan, who attended the University of California–Berkeley and started at OpenAI last year, is also a partner in a firm with venture capitalist and tech founder Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud. Al Saud is the son of Brigadier General Prince Bader bin Said bin Mohammed Al Saud, who formerly served in special operations for Saudi Arabia’s General Intelligence Agency.
A device, which the Justice Department says is a hidden audio recording device installed in an OpenAI executive conference room by Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national employed as an engineer at the AI company, at a location given as San Francisco in this combination handout photo released on Oct. 3, 2026. Department of Justice/Handout via Reuters
Alfozan and Prince Khalid Bin Al Saud have remained venture partners in RAED Ventures, a firm focused on providing capital for early-stage technology investments, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, since 2025, according to the company’s website.
Alfozan’s next scheduled court appearance is Oct. 19 for a detention hearing, prosecutors said.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
It wasn’t clear if Alfozan had retained an attorney. He was unable to be reached for comment.
