Saudi military paid for wife’s flight to Qatar after engineer’s arrest

A California federal court filing alleges that Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national and former OpenAI engineer accused of planting a covert audio recorder in one of the company’s meeting rooms, had “considerable support” from the Saudi government.

The document claims Alfozan was in “frequent communication… with a member of the Saudi royal family.” It also alleges that a Saudi military official paid for a one-way business-class ticket for Alfozan’s wife and son to fly from San Francisco to Doha, Qatar, the day after his arrest.

OpenAI staff discovered the audio recorder on 30 September, according to the filing. The device had been plugged into the back of a television in a conference room and covered with toilet paper. The company placed a camera in the room, and on 5 October the camera filmed Alfozan entering and appearing to look behind the television where the recorder had been inserted, prosecutors said.

The FBI arrested Alfozan on 9 October, and OpenAI terminated his contract. He had worked at the artificial-intelligence firm for around a year.

Prosecutors argued Alfozan posed a flight risk and should remain detained pending trial. The filing said his arrest came three days before he was scheduled to fly from San Francisco to Riyadh on a one-way itinerary with his wife and son. After his arrest, the document says, his wife told FBI agents who interviewed her that her US visa was expiring, that she and her son were “permanently moving back to Saudi Arabia,” and that her husband intended to do the same.

On 10 October, the day after the arrest, Alfozan’s wife and son flew from San Francisco to Doha on a one-way business-class ticket that prosecutors say was booked and paid for by a Saudi military official.

“Ultimately, the defendant has little incentive to remain in the United States to see this case through,” prosecutors wrote.

The court filing also claimed the alleged conduct could pose “a danger to the national security of the United States,” saying OpenAI executives met with government officials in the room during the days the device was believed to have been installed.

The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment.

Alfozan is scheduled to appear in federal court in San Francisco later on Monday. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 (£188,000) fine. The FBI investigation is ongoing.