Former OpenAI Engineer Pleads Not Guilty in Eavesdropping Case

A former OpenAI engineer pleaded not guilty to federal charges of planting a concealed recording device in an executive conference room. Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national, appeared in San Francisco federal court where he entered his plea; his next hearing is scheduled for mid-November. If convicted on a single count of interception of oral communications, he faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. He remains detained without bail since his October arrest.

Prosecutors allege that Alfozan designed sophisticated, encrypted recording equipment to capture sensitive conversations involving OpenAI leadership. He was arrested three days before a planned family departure to Saudi Arabia on a one-way ticket. His wife and son left the country shortly after his arrest on a business-class flight to Qatar that was arranged and paid for by Saudi military officials. Court filings reveal frequent WhatsApp contact between Alfozan and a member of the Saudi Royal Family, establishing him as a significant flight risk in a case with apparent international dimensions.