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Prosecutors: OpenAI Bugging Suspect Booked One-Way Flight to Saudi Arabia Before Arrest

U.S. prosecutors say Abdulrahman Alfozan, charged with planting a recording device at OpenAI, booked a one-way flight to Saudi Arabia before his arrest. He remains detained.

AI News Feed · 2026-10-15 07:14

The U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco said in an Oct. 8 filing that Alfozan 'has the means — and will have the incentive — to flee the United States sooner if he learns about this case before he is arrested.' The filing asked a judge to seal a criminal complaint against him and a warrant for his arrest. The tickets were booked for Oct. 12, from San Francisco to Saudi Arabia via Istanbul. The judge granted the sealing request, and the Department of Justice has said Alfozan was arrested Oct. 9. He has been detained since his arrest.

Alfozan is a venture partner in Raed Ventures, a Saudi Arabian venture capital firm that focuses on investments in the Middle East and lists Prince Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud, a member of the country's ruling royal family, as a fellow partner. Raed's website says Alfozan lives in the San Francisco area and describes him as a seasoned technology professional with deep experience in startups, entrepreneurship and scaling tech companies. His bio page says he 'currently serves as Engineering Lead at OpenAI, with a focus on AI Agents and the data platform.'

Raed announced Alfozan had joined the firm on Feb. 8, 2025, two days after Raed said Prince Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud had joined as a venture partner. A venture partner usually is a consulting or project-based role, not an investing partner or director responsible for raising funds or leading deals. According to the Department of Justice, Alfozan had worked at OpenAI since July 2025. OpenAI said it terminated him this month.

The Financial Times reported Wednesday that when Saudi tech influencers visited San Francisco in September, 'it was Alfozan who welcomed them to OpenAI offices where he gave them tours.' A former CIA official with extensive experience in the Middle East, who spoke to CNBC on condition of anonymity because of the nature of their past work, said Raed Ventures is 'basically a state organ' of the Saudi government. One of Raed's funds in December 2024 received an investment from Saudi Venture Capital, a subsidiary of SME Bank, which is part of Saudi Arabia's National Development Fund.

According to his bio on Raed's website, Prince Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud is a member of the ruling Al Saud family and the managing director and vice chairman of his family's private office. The former CIA official said that if Alfozan's alleged bugging of OpenAI is part of a state-sponsored espionage effort, it shows that 'in the AI and tech boom, even the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has assessed that the risk is worth the gain to engage in economic espionage against a close ally.' The former official also said the incident is 'probably the tip of the iceberg.'

The criminal complaint against Alfozan does not allege that Raed or its other partners were aware of Alfozan allegedly planting a recording device at OpenAI. The case is being prosecuted by the National Security, Cyber & Special Prosecutions Section of the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, according to the Department of Justice.

Alfozan is charged in U.S. District Court in San Francisco with one count of using or attempting to use an electronic, mechanical or other device to intercept oral communications. He is being detained pending an Oct. 19 detention hearing, where his lawyer could argue for his release on bond. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, DOJ said. Alfozan is not charged with corporate espionage or stealing trade secrets.

OpenAI earlier this year held discussions with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the country's sovereign wealth fund, about investing in the AI company. Raed did not immediately respond to requests for comment. CNBC has also requested comment from the Saudi embassy in Washington.

Alfozan's criminal defense attorney, William Pernik, told CNBC by email, 'At this point, the information provided has been extremely limited, as the charging documents have just been unsealed yesterday.' OpenAI declined to comment on Wednesday about whether it knew about Alfozan's position at the Saudi firm. The company said it cannot share more details about the conference room in question due to operational security concerns.

OpenAI said in a post on X on Tuesday, 'At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data.' The company also said it takes protecting its technology, data and people seriously, and as a matter of national importance.