Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national, was arrested on 9 October and made his initial court appearance on Tuesday, 13 October, the US Department of Justice said. He remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for 19 October before US Magistrate Judge Alex G Tse.
Federal prosecutors charged Alfozan with using or attempting to use an electronic device to intercept oral communications. The allegation centres on equipment discovered on 30 September behind a television in an executive conference room at one of OpenAI’s San Francisco buildings.
Investigators allege the device had been inserted into the television’s USB port around 28 September, concealed inside toilet paper. Its contents were encrypted. The criminal complaint does not establish whether confidential conversations were successfully captured or transmitted to anyone outside the company.
OpenAI said it discovered the equipment during a security inspection and used its own artificial intelligence models to examine the device and identify the employee suspected of installing it. The company subsequently dismissed Alfozan and referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The company said it had found no indication that the employee improperly accessed or removed model weights, source code or customer data. That assurance does not establish what, if anything, the recording device captured, an issue distinct from unauthorised access to digital systems.
According to the complaint, the conference room regularly hosted discussions involving proprietary research, product plans, business opportunities, technical progress, government engagements and commercial relationships. Alfozan, who had worked at OpenAI since July 2025, was not authorised to enter the room or attend meetings held there, prosecutors said.
Closed-circuit television footage allegedly placed him near the conference room on several dates before the device was discovered. Investigators also allege that footage recorded him entering the room on 5 October and appearing to look behind the television where the equipment had been installed.
Prosecutors outlined electronic records they say link Alfozan to preparations for the alleged surveillance. Before 28 September, he allegedly used a productivity tool to seek information about company buildings, conference-room capacities, meeting calendars and locations used for leadership gatherings and meetings with external partners.
A chatbot account associated with his spouse, which investigators said shared identifiers and other attributes with his account, also submitted questions between 24 and 30 September about constructing, disguising and remotely accessing audio recorders. Those inquiries covered wireless connectivity, continuous recording, live listening and encrypting storage media, according to the complaint.
The same account allegedly made inquiries concerning distinctive technical features of the device found in the conference room, including its custom header and unique network address. The complaint describes these exchanges as evidence supporting the charge; the allegations have not been tested at trial.
On 5 October, security personnel found another recording device resembling the first inside a bag Alfozan had left unattended elsewhere in an OpenAI building. The bag also contained his wallet and identification, prosecutors said.
US Attorney Craig Missakian described the protection of technological innovation as a national security priority. FBI Director Kash Patel likewise said safeguarding sensitive research and proprietary technology remained a counterintelligence priority. Neither statement establishes a foreign-government connection or identifies a recipient for any information allegedly collected.
Alfozan faces a maximum of five years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release if convicted. Any sentence would depend on the court’s assessment of the applicable law and sentencing guidelines. He is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt.
The charge concerns interception of spoken communications rather than an allegation that computer systems were hacked. Prosecutors have not publicly identified meetings recorded by the device, disclosed an alleged purchaser of information or announced charges against another person. OpenAI said it had increased security checks after discovering the equipment and had identified indications that recording devices might have been planned for other areas of its offices. The investigation remains open.
The investigation is being conducted by the FBI, with prosecution handled by the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and assistance from the Justice Department’s National Security Division. The next scheduled proceeding will address whether Alfozan remains detained while the criminal case progresses.
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