Court detains ex-OpenAI engineer accused of bugging executive meetings
Original title: Ex-OpenAI Engineer Detained in Spy Device Case as Saudi Royal Contacts Emerge
Prosecutors say Abdulrahman Alfozan researched and encrypted a hidden recorder and messaged a Saudi royal before a planned one-way trip to Riyadh.
A U.S. court granted detention of former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national charged with trying to intercept oral communications. Prosecutors allege he placed a modified audio recorder in a USB port on a television in an OpenAI executive conference room and encrypted recordings on a microSD card. A Sunday filing says he frequently messaged a Saudi royal who tried to recruit him for a Saudi AI initiative. The investigation is ongoing; if convicted he faces up to five years.
Unconfirmed: The recording, recruitment, and foreign-government claims are prosecution allegations, and Alfozan has not been convicted.
- Alfozan joined OpenAI around July 2025 at a $385,000 base salary.
- Prosecutors say he last messaged the royal on October 5, four days before arrest.
- He had a one-way ticket to Riyadh for October 12; his wife and son left earlier.
- Phone photos from September 22-28 show another concealed recorder and OpenAI TV panels.
- He is charged with intercepting oral communications, not yet convicted.
- ATT&CK
- T1123 Audio Capture
- Victims
- OpenAI
- Organizations
- U.S. Department of JusticeFBI
- Countries
- United StatesSaudi Arabia
From the original article
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A U. S. court on Monday granted the U.
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