A federal judge on Monday ordered a former OpenAI engineer accused of bugging an executive conference room to stay in jail, after questioning whether a $1 million bond the Saudi government offered to guarantee would bring him back if he fled.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, the 35-year-old former OpenAI engineer, appeared in court today wearing an orange jumpsuit and white face mask while escorted by two U.S. marshals. He will remain in federal custody until his next court date, a preliminary hearing on Nov. 6. He has been in jail since the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested him on Oct. 9, alleging he planted the device in a conference room where executives, and sometimes government officials, discussed sensitive information, on Sept. 28.
Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse said a $1 million bond had to be weighed against the possibility that Alfozan “potentially has access to much greater wealth.”
“Once he leaves, there’s no getting him back, and that’s why this is a bigger case,” Tse said in the courtroom Monday morning.
OpenAI terminated Alfozan’s employment on Oct. 9, although Alfozan’s lawyer said Monday in court the company never formally told him that. However, per his defense motion, he was told before his arrest that he had been placed on administrative leave. Tse noted that OpenAI would not have fired him if it had no concern about what it found.
Fortune was in the San Francisco courtroom for the hearing, as were about 60 others, including a group of high school students who had come to witness a case involving one of the most prominent companies in the world.
Ahead of the court hearing Monday, both prosecutors for the federal government and the defense, Alfozan’s attorney William Pernik, filed court documents revealing new details about the case. Alfozan sought release from federal custody, with supervision, such as an ankle monitor, while the U.S. argued there was reason to believe he would leave the country and that he posed a danger to the community and to U.S. national security.
Alfozan faces one count of using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications, which carries a maximum of five years in prison. He was charged by criminal complaint and has not been indicted or entered a plea. The complaint does not charge him with espionage, theft of trade secrets or acting as an agent of a foreign government, a point his defense stressed in its motion. OpenAI has said it has “no indications” that he inappropriately accessed or took model weights, source code or customer data.
The filings reveal far more than has been known to date about Alfozan and some of the most controversial details of the case, including why Alfozan had a one-way flight booked to Saudi Arabia three days after his arrest. Alfozan’s lawyer said he is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, although he has been in the U.S. for 15 years, got his green card in 2020, and joined OpenAI in 2025.
A one-way ticket to Saudi Arabia and potential plans to move back
Alfozan booked the flight to Saudi Arabia on Sept. 13, according to the defense motion, along with his wife, also a Saudi national, and 3-month-old baby. The economy fare for all three cost $1,897.59 and could be changed for a $180 fee, the defense said, adding it wasn’t unusual for their client: Alfozan often books one-way tickets to allow for scheduling flexibility around his work schedule, the defense motion says. In fact, 70% (96 of 138) of the airline bookings “in his email since January 2021 were one-way tickets.” His naturalization application lists 25 trips abroad between 2020 and 2025, 20 of which included Saudi Arabia, and he returned from every one, according to the defense.
As for why the date of Oct. 12, Alfozan booked it then because that’s the day his wife’s 60-day grace period ended after her work permit in the U.S. expired on Aug. 13. Since giving birth, she has “struggled with postpartum depression and anxiety,” the defense motion says. Alfozan filed for paternity leave from OpenAI, set for Oct. 19 to Dec. 20, after which he planned to return to the Bay Area and his role at OpenAI.
After Alfozan’s arrest, his wife allegedly told authorities that she and their baby intended to permanently move to Saudi Arabia, according to the court filing. She told them her husband intended to move there at some point to be with them, but for now, was spending two months of his paternity leave in the country before returning to the U.S. In court Monday, however, the defense said she now plans to return to the U.S. on a temporary visa, short-term B-1 visa. The defense also said she left the U.S. rather than overstay her visa.
That is consistent with a letter one of Alfozan’s friends submitted for the defense motion, in which the friend says he spoke to Alfozan about his plan to continue working in the U.S. and supporting his wife and baby returned to Saudi.
As further evidence of Alfozan’s intent to return to the U.S., his lawyer notes that on Sept. 26, two days before he allegedly planted the device, Alfozan registered to attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a convention in Las Vegas scheduled in early January 2027.
In court, Pernik argued that Alfozan stayed in the country for about eight to 10 days after OpenAI confronted him. “If he really were an agent of a foreign government . . . why wouldn’t he just leave right away,” Pernik said in court.
Evidence found on his iPhone
The U.S. filing also reveals the results of a federal search of Alfozan’s home and cellphone. They found “several electronic components similar” to the recording device Alfozan allegedly installed behind a TV in the conference room, and a second one OpenAI security staff found in his bag.
On Alfozan’s iPhone were several photographs, dated from Sept. 22-28, 2026, depicting another recording device. Other photos showed what appeared to be the input and output panels on televisions and other devices in “various locations in OpenAI buildings” including another conference room where “sensitive meetings” frequently occurred, according to the filing. This suggested Alfozan “had done reconnaissance at OpenAI to determine where he might install additional devices,” the U.S. filing says.
Also on Alfozan’s iPhone was a note he had deleted from Sept. 2026, which had links to different recording devices, including ones made by Seeed Studio, the brand of device Alfozan allegedly put in the conference room and found at his residence.
Two other notes stood out. One titled “Riyadh tasks,” last modified Sept. 13—the day he booked the flight—listed finding an apartment and a job for his wife and getting a Saudi passport for his son. Another, titled “OpenAI leave” and last modified Oct. 7, suggested he planned an “[e]arly … pick up” of the devices and extending his leave “to full,” according to the U.S. filing. His wife also told FBI agents she had seen her ChatGPT account open on her husband’s laptop, the filing says.
In court, Pernik disputed the government’s account of the room. “This was an open room where anyone could walk in,” he said, adding that Alfozan held meetings and led teams there. The complaint, however, says Alfozan had no authority to enter the room or take part in meetings there.
“OpenAI encouraged Mr. Alfozan to be involved with Saudi Arabia,” Pernik said.
Prosecutors said in court they don’t know what information Alfozan may have tried to take out of OpenAI and the U.S. “That is the concern, that something is going to leave OpenAI and the U.S., and quite frankly we don’t even know what that is,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nick Parker said.
The court filings also reveal Alfozan’s browser history, which allegedly show he accessed a folder called “Saudi Gov Docs” on Oct. 4, 2026. Between July 6 and Sept. 21, 2026, he queried an internal OpenAI productivity tool about which OpenAI staff could be suitable to attend a high-level informal meeting with ministers in Saudi Arabia, and about planned OpenAI visits to Saudi Arabia. He also asked the tool on Sept. 7 who at OpenAI may be likely to attend a meeting between the Saudi state-backed AI company HUMAIN and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) of Saudi Arabia at OpenAI.
He asked the tool about matters related to MCIT again on Sept. 8, about an upcoming Saudi MCIT visit on Sept. 9, as well as on Sept. 21. Alfozan’s base salary at OpenAI was $385,000, (up from $325,000 when he was hired) plus a $2.2 million new-hire equity grant.
“OpenAI encouraged Mr. Alfozan to be involved with Saudi Arabia,” Pernik said in court.
Returning to Saudi Arabia
Alfozan’s wife and child left the U.S. within 36 hours of his arrest. They did not take the originally planned Oct. 12 flight. Instead, the Saudi government first booked and paid for another one-way ticket for her and their son to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Oct. 11. However, they also did not take that flight, but rather left a day earlier on Oct. 10 on another business class flight to Qatar booked and paid for by a member of the Saudi military, court documents say.
In court Monday, the defense specified that Alfozan’s brother-in-law (his wife’s sister’s husband) booked the flight. He works in the Saudi government, and paid for the flight with his own money.
The Saudi Consulate General in Los Angeles said in an Oct. 14 letter, filed with the defense motion, that it stands ready to cover the full amount of any bail bond the court requires. It also told Pretrial Services in writing that it “will not issue any travel documents” to Alfozan while he is on release. In court, Pernik said the Saudi government was willing to guarantee $1 million, “giving their full faith and credit,” and would notify the State Department. Tse asked whether the offer amounted to Saudi Arabia keeping him in the U.S. so it wouldn’t lose its money. Pernik said the relationship mattered more than the million dollars.
Alfozan was “in frequent communication via WhatsApp with a member of the Saudi Royal Family,” the U.S. alleges in its motion. The unnamed royal allegedly tried to recruit Alfozan for an AI initiative being launched in Saudi, and asked Alfozan when he would leave OpenAI. Alfozan allegedly said he wouldn’t leave until his stock vested, the government’s detention memo read.
Alfozan communicated with the unnamed royal as recently as Oct. 5, 2026, court documents say. In May 2026, the royal told Alfozan, “Saudi needs you more then [sic] the US!” Alfozan responded, “100,” indicating agreement.
Alfozan had applied in July to a program for young Saudi Arabian leaders, the Misk Foundation’s “2030 Leaders” program, according to the U.S. filing. He had proceeded to the second stage of the process, and checked the status of his application, as recently as Sept. 4, filings say. The program would have required him to take part in person in Riyadh, the filing says.
At the same time, Alfozan was on the “verge” of getting U.S. citizenship, the defense motion says. A day after OpenAI found the device, on Oct. 1, 2026, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services notified him that his citizenship interview was set for Nov. 6, 2026. This was “a long-held dream for the Alfozan family, as it is for so many immigrants,” reads the defense motion. That interview has since been postponed because of the case, and his next court date is set for Nov. 6, the date of the original interview. The defense also told the court that Alfozan had worked and paid taxes in the U.S. for years, and had disclosed even traffic tickets on his citizenship application.
“His plan was always to return to the Bay Area, where his home, his career, and his community are,” the defense motion says. “The evidence shows that Mr. Alfozan planned to accompany his wife and son to Saudi Arabia for his paternity leave and then return.”
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