SAN FRANCISCO—A federal judge rejected a bail request of a former OpenAI engineer who was accused of eavesdropping in the executive conference room with customized devices.
“The Saudi government’s offer to pay an indeterminate and possibly limitless sum to secure the defendant’s release from custody does not assure the Court that it will exercise moral suasion over the defendant to keep him in the United States,” Magistrate Judge Alex Tse wrote in the detention order dated Oct. 21.
William Pernik, the defendant’s lawyer, said Abdulrahman Alfozan is willing to put up “almost the entirety” of his assets—about $1 million currently in a U.S. investment account—to cover his bond.
Pernik guaranteed a bond co-signed by members of the Bay Area community and backed by a written undertaking of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Prosecutors said that Alfozan’s wife and three-month-old son left the United States for Doha, Qatar, on Oct. 10 on a one-way ticket arranged by a Saudi military official, around 36 hours after the 35-year-old Saudi national was arrested by the FBI.
Prosecutors said he was pursuing career opportunities in Saudi Arabia and leaving the United States before his arrest.
He had ample resources, including assets from a decade of high-tech employment in the Bay Area and at least two bank accounts in Saudi Arabia, prosecutors said in the memorandum requesting detention. In addition, he allegedly had what appears to be considerable support from a foreign government.
Alfozan was arrested on Oct. 9 and charged with using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications, according to the criminal complaint filed the day before.
Alfozan was fired by OpenAI after being arrested.
He earned a base salary of $385,000 and was granted a new hire equity of $2.2 million in profit participation units, according to the memorandum filed by prosecutors.
Alfozan has been a permanent resident since 2020, and had a naturalization interview scheduled with federal officials on Nov. 6, Pernik said in a pretrial motion to release.
Fifty-four individuals, including a physician, engineers, startup founders, former housemates, and friends, wrote statements in support of the defendant in the motion.
Alfozan frequently communicated with a member of the Saudi Royal Family, as recently as Oct. 5, according to a filing by prosecutors alleging he was invited to join an artificial intelligence initiative launched recently in Saudi Arabia.
“Saudi needs you more then [sic] the U.S.!” the individual told the defendant, who responded affirmatively, according to the filing by the prosecutors.
OpenAI staff found the audio recording device on Sept. 30 wrapped in toilet paper and inserted into a port on the back of a television in an executive conference room at the company’s San Francisco office, according to court documents.
The staff identified a specific employee who they say planted the recorder a few days earlier by using the company’s models to understand the device and where it had come from, according to a statement posted by OpenAI Oct. 13.
The information was given to the FBI, and agents quickly made an arrest.
OpenAI didn’t respond to a request for more information on the case.
Jill McLaughlin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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