OpenAI eavesdropping: Alfozan contacted Saudi royal family before arrest

A Saudi national accused of planting a recording device in a sensitive OpenAI executive conference room in San Francisco “frequently communicated via WhatsApp with members of the Saudi royal family” between 2025 and 2026, prosecutors revealed in a shocking court filing Sunday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco said in a filing asking for defendant Abdulrahman Alfozan to be held without bail that he contacted the Saudi royal family on Oct. 5, four days before his arrest.

Prosecutors have not identified the Saudi royal, nor did they say in their filing how Alfozan, who was working as an engineer at OpenAI at the time, knew the person.

“Among other things, the person (a member of the royal family) informed the defendant (Alfozan) that an artificial intelligence initiative was being launched in Saudi Arabia and that the defendant wanted to participate in it,” prosecutors said in their filing.

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

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

The filing does not say that the Saudi royal family instructed Alfozan to install recording devices at OpenAI or steal information from the AI ​​giant.

Alfozan, who lives near the San Francisco airport, is a venture partner at Raid Ventures, a Saudi venture capital firm. Prince Khalid bin Bader Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family, joined the company as a venture partner in 2025. Prosecutors did not mention the prince by name in Sunday’s filing, nor did they say the unidentified royal who contacted Alfozan had ties to Raed.

Prosecutors said in the same filing that after Alfozan’s Oct. 9 arrest changed the family’s plans to fly to Saudi Arabia on Oct. 12, Saudi government and Saudi military officials shortly thereafter booked separate flights for Alfozan’s wife, Loujain Alassaf, and their 3-month-old baby son to leave the United States.

His wife and son flew from San Francisco to Doha, Qatar, on a business class flight paid for by unidentified Saudi military personnel on October 10, according to the filing.

The filing asks a judge to order Mr. Alfozan, 35, to be held without bail when he appears Monday morning in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Alfozan has been in jail since his arrest on charges of using or attempting to use electronic, mechanical, or other devices to intercept oral communications. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison. OpenAI fired him after his arrest.

In a separate filing, Alfozan’s lawyer, William Pernik, asked for his client to be released on conditions of home detention and GPS monitoring, as well as a bond co-signed by another person and “the written support of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

The Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., has not responded to CNBC’s request for comment since Alfozan’s arrest was announced on Oct. 13.

Prosecutors said that in the days before and after Alfozan allegedly placed a recording device behind a television in a conference room on September 28, “OpenAI executives were meeting with government officials in that very room.”

“The defendant’s actions may pose a risk to the national security of the United States,” prosecutors said in their filing.

When Alfozan’s arrest was announced on October 13, FBI Director Kash Patel said that Alfozan was suspected of concealing a recording device to secretly record classified communications about the company’s artificial intelligence technology.

Prosecutors argued in a new filing that Alfozan is a flight risk because he has access to “abundant resources…and what appears to be significant assistance from a foreign government with which (i) it does not have an extradition treaty with the United States; (ii) it has unlimited resources; and (iii) the ability to provide special travel assistance, including based on similar circumstances in the United States.”

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

Mr. Alfozan spent about 15 years in the United States working for various technology companies, including Meta, and earned a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 2025. He is a lawful permanent resident of the United States and is applying for naturalized citizenship.

For his most recent job as an OpenAI engineer, Alfozan was hired in July 2025 for an annual base salary of $325,000, which was later increased to $385,000, prosecutors said in the filing. He also received a $2.2 million new hire stock grant in a profit-participating unit, according to the filing.

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

“On or about September 28, 2026, approximately two weeks prior to the scheduled flight, Defendant inserted a covert audio recording device into a USB port on the back of a television in OpenAI’s executive conference room, and the device remained there for at least several days,” the filing states.

The room is frequently used to “discuss sensitive technical, commercial, and strategic information, including proprietary research, as well as nonpublic information such as OpenAI’s technological advances, strategic decisions, capabilities, priorities, government engagement, and commercial relationships,” according to the filing.

The filing also says Alfozan’s iPhone after his arrest was found to contain photos from September 22 to 28 depicting “at least one additional concealment device and what appears to be input/output panels for televisions and other electronic devices in various locations within the OpenAI building, including another conference room where sensitive meetings were frequently held.”

“The defendant’s residence contained several electronic components similar to those in the case.
“Customized devices installed by Defendants in OpenAI conference rooms,” the filing states.

OpenAI also discovered another recording device inside a bag Alfozan accidentally left in the printing room on October 5th. That same day, prosecutors said, he was seen on camera checking behind a television set where the first recording device had been left in the conference room. Prosecutors said the cameras were installed after OpenAI discovered the recording device on September 30th.

His cellphone also contained a note, which was deleted in September 2026, “containing links to various recording devices, including devices from Seeed Studio, the manufacturer of devices found in OpenAI’s office and devices found by FBI agents at defendant’s residence.”

Another memo, titled “OpenAI Leave,” suggests Alfozan planned to “take early pick-up of the devices he had installed or planned to install, and then fully extend his planned parental ‘leave’,” the filing said.

In addition to having contacts with the Saudi royal family, Alfozan “pursued other opportunities in Saudi Arabia, including participation in the Misk Foundation’s ‘2030 Leaders’ program, which required direct participation in Riyadh,” prosecutors said.

The day before Alfozan’s wife left the U.S. with their baby, she told FBI agents who were questioning her that her U.S. visa had expired and she planned to return permanently to Saudi Arabia with her son, and that her husband, the defendant, ultimately intended to do the same, the filing states.

“Nationality is not proof of flight” and his planned trip to Saudi Arabia was for “family and immigration reasons,” Alfozan’s lawyer, Pernik, said in a motion seeking Alfozan’s release from home detention.

According to the lawyer, the 60-day post-employment grace period on Alfozan’s wife’s own visa was scheduled to end on October 12, the original scheduled departure date.

“Mr. Alfozan was informed that OpenAI had located the device in accordance with his filing and OpenAI’s filing.
“He made a public statement approximately eight to 10 days prior to his arrest. If his intention had been to flee, he would have fled at that time,” Pernik wrote.

The lawyer also said Alfozan, who had booked one-way tickets to Saudi Arabia for himself and his family, regularly bought one-way tickets because he knew it was more cost-effective than changing flights at the last minute.

Pernik also wrote that the Saudi consulate on Thursday “confirmed in writing to the U.S. Office of Pretrial Services that it will not issue ‘any travel documents’ to Mr. Alfozan during his release and that he will ‘promptly notify the U.S. Office of Pretrial Services’ if requested by Mr. Alfozan.”

The attorney argued that prosecutors have not shown Alfozan to be a significant flight risk.

“Mr. Alfozan has lived in the United States for 15 years and in the Bay Area for approximately 10 years,” Pernik wrote. “54 people sent letters to the court, at least 27 of them in the Bay Area, describing individuals who organize dinner parties, welcome newcomers, mentor students, and attend friends’ weddings, birthdays, and house moves.”

“That’s not the profile of someone with one foot out the door,” Pernik said.