A Saudi engineer charged with attempting to bug confidential OpenAI conferences continuously despatched WhatsApp messages to a Saudi royal who advised him, “Saudi needs you more then [sic] the US!” according to a gorgeous court submitting.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, the 35-year-old Saudi national in federal custody, repeatedly messaged the unidentified Saudi royal in 2025 and 2026, including as just lately as Oct. 5 – just 4 days before his arrest, federal prosecutors said in the Sunday submitting.
The Saudi royal repeatedly tried to recruit the defendant to be a part of an AI initiative being launched in Saudi Arabia, but Alfozan “said he wouldn’t leave [OpenAI] until his stock vested,” according to the submitting.
Abdulrahman Alfozan (above) caught in a surveillance photograph peering behind a TV in an OpenAI convention room. via REUTERS
“In May 2026, the individual told the defendant, ‘Saudi needs you more then [sic] the US!’ to which the defendant responded ‘100,’ indicating he agreed,” prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors are requesting that Alfozan be detained without bail, arguing he is a “flight risk” because he has “ample resources … and what appears to be considerable support” from the Saudi authorities.
Alfozan – who was employed by OpenAI in July 2025 with a base engineering wage of $325,000, later upped to $385,000 – lives close to the San Francisco airport and is a companion at Raed Ventures, a Saudi enterprise capital firm, according to federal prosecutors.
Prince Khalid bin Bader Al Saud, a Saudi royal, joined the firm as a companion in 2025.
The submitting did not point out the prince by title or whether he has any ties to Alfozan. The submitting also did not say whether the unnamed royal advised Alfozan to set up recording units in OpenAI’s San Francisco convention rooms.
The Saudi authorities booked a flight to Saudi Arabia for Alfozan, his spouse and their 3-month-old son, according to the submitting.
After his arrest disrupted those plans, Alfozan’s spouse, Lujain Alassaf, and their child flew to Doha, Qatar, on Oct. 10 on a business-class flight paid for by a member of the Saudi army, prosecutors said.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, the former OpenAI engineer charged with attempting to bug conferences. Instagram/alfozan
“He has the connections needed not only to flee, but to build a new life in Saudi Arabia. The Court should order the defendant detained pending trial,” the feds wrote in the submitting.
The defendant’s lawyer, William Pernik, requested in a separate submitting that Alfozan be launched with home detention and GPS monitoring “supported by the written undertaking of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
He argued that Alfozan’s “nationality is not evidence of flight,” saying his deliberate journey to Saudi Arabia was for “family and immigration reasons” and that he had booked a one-way ticket because he had discovered it was a great way to save on flights.
Alfozan faces a most sentence of 5 years in prison, a $250,000 superb and then three years of supervised release, if convicted.
A photograph offered by the US Department of Justice of the alleged recording machine. via REUTERS
A spokesperson for OpenAI pointed The Post to the company’s earlier assertion, which said there was no indication that Alfozan inappropriately accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code or buyer information.
“We take protecting our technology, data, and people seriously, and as a matter of national importance,” OpenAI said in the assertion. “Our security program is designed to protect against a wide range of threat actors, from insider risks to cybercriminals to nation states, and this case is an example of how AI can help address these sophisticated security threats.”
OpenAI fired Alfozan following his arrest, after a “surreptitious audio recording device” was discovered stuffed into the back of a TV in a convention room, wrapped in toilet paper in an obvious attempt to conceal the machine, according to the grievance.
Alfozan was caught in a surveillance photograph peering behind the TV, wide-eyed with his mouth agape, days after security personnel found the machine.
In the days around the machine’s set up, “OpenAI executives met with government officials in that very room” – presenting a national security risk, prosecutors wrote.
Alfozan’s telephone had a deleted notice from September 2026 “with links to various recording devices, including devices made by Seeed Studio” – the same sort discovered in the convention room, according to the submitting.
OpenAI employed Alfozan in July 2025 NurPhoto via Getty Images
His iPhone also contained images exhibiting “at least one additional concealed device as well as what appear to be the input/output panels on televisions and other electronic devices” around OpenAI buildings, the submitting said.
His residence contained comparable digital units, and another recording machine was discovered in a bag that Alfozan left behind in a printer room, according to prosecutors.
Alfozan – a legal everlasting US resident who had utilized to become a naturalized citizen – was planning to take two months of parental go away after the start of his son, but another notice on his telephone recommended that he deliberate to lengthen his “leave to full,” according to the submitting.
His spouse advised FBI brokers before her departure that her visa was expiring and she was shifting completely back to Saudi Arabia with her son “and that her husband, the defendant, eventually intended to do the same,” the submitting said.
But Pernik, Alfozan’s lawyer, argued that this was regular habits, saying Alfozan had spent roughly 15 years in the US, labored at several firms and often attended pals’ birthday events and weddings – which is “not the profile of a person with one foot out the door.”
