Former OpenAI Engineer Pleads Not Guilty in Covert Device Case

Former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan pleaded not guilty on Friday in San Francisco federal court to a charge of interception of oral communications. Prosecutors allege he planted a covert recording device in an executive conference room at the company. The 35-year-old Saudi national has been held without bail since his arrest on October 9, 2026, and his next hearing is scheduled for November 17, 2026. If proven guilty, he faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.

Allegations and charges

Prosecutors allege that Alfozan, a former OpenAI employee, placed a sophisticated recording device in an executive OpenAI conference room in an attempt to unlawfully record sensitive conversations. Late last month, a grand jury indicted him on a single count of interception of oral communications.

Arrest and travel plans

He was arrested three days before he, along with his wife and son, were scheduled to fly from San Francisco to Riyadh on a one-way ticket. His wife and son left the United States without him, prosecutors said. Rather than wait until the October 12 flight as booked, they initially planned to fly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on October 11 on a one-way ticket booked and paid for by the Saudi government. That flight was canceled when a member of the Saudi military booked and paid for another one-way ticket for his wife and son, business class to Doha, Qatar, on October 10, 2026. They made that flight, departing San Francisco about 36 hours after Alfozan was arrested.

Contacts and flight risk

In a subsequent court filing, prosecutors alleged that Alfozan was in frequent contact with a member of the Saudi Royal Family via WhatsApp. He was also deemed a flight risk, with court documents claiming he took great pains to create bespoke, encrypted recording devices to record sensitive meetings involving senior OpenAI personnel and executives.

Sources: The Hacker News