Federal prosecutors have charged an OpenAI engineer with planting a recording device in an executive conference room at the company’s San Francisco office. Agents arrested Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national, Friday. He made his first court appearance on Tuesday.
Alfozan has worked at OpenAI since July 2025. He faces a charge of using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications, which carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The allegations come from a criminal complaint, and Alfozan has not been convicted.
OpenAI security staff found the device on September 30, plugged into a USB port behind a television in the room. Prosecutors say it sat concealed in toilet paper and went in around September 28. The room hosts talks on proprietary research, product plans and government engagements.
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The complaint says footage placed Alfozan near the room about six times in September, though he had no authority to attend meetings there. Footage from October 5 allegedly shows him entering the room and looking behind the television. That day, security staff found a second, similar device in a bag he left unattended in another room, according to BleepingComputer.
The complaint also says he ran searches on a workplace productivity tool about OpenAI’s offices, meeting rooms and calendars.
OpenAI said it used its AI models to examine the device and trace it to a specific employee. The company referred the case to the FBI and fired Alfozan. It said it has no indications he accessed or took model weights. Prosecutors allege he tried to steal sensitive communications, and OpenAI says it has evidence he meant to place more devices in sensitive areas.
FBI Director Kash Patel called protecting American AI innovation one of the bureau’s top counterintelligence priorities. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department took the case “extremely seriously.” The FBI investigation continues. It was not immediately clear whether Alfozan has a lawyer.
