A federal court ordered the continued detention of Abdulrahman Alfozan, a former OpenAI engineer accused of bugging a top-secret conference room to steal company secrets, the FBI said. US attorney Craig Missakian argued Alfozan must remain jailed while prosecutors build their case that he spied for personal gain or to benefit Saudi Arabia. Evidence showed Alfozan communicated with a KSA royal family member via WhatsApp while seeking permanent relocation to Saudi Arabia amid the nation's major AI expansion. Prior to arrest, FBI agents found he accessed a folder labeled “Saudi Gov Docs” on his iPhone, also storing photos of a second planted bug. The government claims Alfozan had booked a one-way ticket for his wife, baby, and himself to Riyadh—paid for by the Saudi government—and that after his arrest, his wife and son left on a separate business-class flight to Doha arranged by a Saudi military member. With over a decade of Bay Area tech employment, significant compensation, and two Saudi bank accounts, Alfozan poses a flight risk, prosecutors allege. They cited a precedent involving former Twitter employees spied for Saudi officials, including Ali Alzabarah, whose case remains pending. Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse agreed with the detention request at a Monday hearing. Alfozan, a Saudi national and US permanent resident, holds technical degrees from MIT and UC Berkeley and was hired by OpenAI around July 2025 with a $325,000 salary and a $2.2M equity grant. His alleged scheme began shortly after joining, as he planned parental leave to help his wife return to Saudi Arabia permanently.
The US attorney emphasized that despite seizing Alfozan’s Saudi passport at arrest, he could still obtain travel documents and flee with foreign government assistance. Prosecutors argue he has little incentive to stay for trial, given ongoing support from Saudi officials.
Alfozan’s arrest occurred just days before he was set to travel, underscoring the urgency of the FBI’s intervention.
His defense attorney has not yet commented publicly on the charges.
Source: Ars Technica · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing