Judge Orders Ex-OpenAI Engineer Held Without Bail After Prosecutors Point to Saudi Backing; Saudi Royal Told Him "Saudi Needs You"

A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday ordered the former OpenAI engineer charged with hiding a recording device in one of the company's executive conference rooms held without bail pending trial, after prosecutors argued he appears to have "considerable support from a foreign government," citing flights the Saudi government and a member of the Saudi military booked for his wife and infant son after his arrest.

Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse found a "significant" risk that Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, would flee, CNBC reported from the courtroom. The judge called an offer by the Saudi Consulate to pay his full bail "problematic," saying, "It seems like a blank check," and noted that Saudi Arabia has no extradition treaty with the United States. "He doesn't have to go all the way to Saudi Arabia," Tse said, according to CNBC. "He just has to go to Canada or Mexico." Alfozan is due back in court Nov. 6.

The claims are in a detention memorandum the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California filed Sunday, Oct. 18, in United States v. Alfozan, No. 3:26-mj-71329. Prosecutors asked that Alfozan, a Saudi national, be held without bail until trial. His lawyer had asked that he be released to home detention with a GPS monitor. Reuters and CNBC reported on the filing earlier Monday; The Digital Free Press reviewed both sides' filings.

Prosecutors Point to Saudi Backing

According to the government's filing, Alfozan, his wife and their son were booked on a one-way flight from San Francisco to Riyadh, by way of Istanbul, on Oct. 12. He was arrested by the FBI on Oct. 9.

The filing says his wife and son then planned to fly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Oct. 11 "on a one-way ticket booked and paid for by the Saudi government." That flight was canceled, prosecutors wrote, "when a member of the Saudi military booked and paid for yet another one-way ticket" for the two, "this one business class to Doha, Qatar, on October 10, 2026." They took that flight, "about 36 hours after the defendant was arrested."

Prosecutors also wrote that "throughout 2025 and 2026," Alfozan "was in frequent communication via WhatsApp with a member of the Saudi Royal Family, including as recently as October 5, 2026." The filing does not name that person. It says the individual told Alfozan that an artificial intelligence initiative was being launched in Saudi Arabia and wanted him to join it.

"In May 2026, the individual told the defendant, 'Saudi needs you more then [sic] the US!' to which the defendant responded '100,' indicating he agreed," the filing says. "The individual repeatedly tried to recruit the defendant and asked when he planned to leave OpenAI. At the time, the defendant said he wouldn't leave until his stock vested."

The filing does not say the royal family member or the Saudi government directed Alfozan to place the device.

Prosecutors argued that Alfozan is a flight risk because of his resources, including "at least two bank accounts in Saudi Arabia," and "what appears to be considerable support from a foreign government that has (i) no extradition treaty with the United States; (ii) limitless resources; and (iii) the ability to provide extraordinary travel assistance."

In a footnote, prosecutors pointed to an earlier case in the same court involving Saudi Arabia and Twitter. They wrote that, as alleged in that case, after Twitter confronted employee Ali Alzabarah in 2015 about his access to user data, calls were exchanged with a Saudi official and the Saudi consul general in Los Angeles "to coordinate a next-day flight to Saudi Arabia." The filing notes that the charges against Alzabarah "remain pending."

What Investigators Say They Found

The filing says Alfozan joined OpenAI as an engineer in or around July 2025, with a base salary of $325,000 that was later raised to $385,000, plus a new-hire equity grant of $2.2 million in profit participation units. OpenAI fired him after his arrest, according to the filing.

Prosecutors say that on or about Sept. 28, about two weeks before the planned flight, Alfozan put "a surreptitious audio recording device into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive OpenAI conference room." The room, the filing says, is used for leadership meetings and briefings with government officials, and "in the days surrounding the time period that the device was installed, OpenAI executives met with government officials in that very room. Defendant's conduct could pose a danger to the national security of the United States."

According to the filing, a review of his phone and home turned up:

Photos dated Sept. 22 to 28 showing "at least one additional concealed recording device" and the input panels of televisions in OpenAI buildings, "including another conference room where sensitive meetings frequently occurred."

Electronic parts at his home "similar to those in the customized devices" found at OpenAI.

A deleted note with links to recording devices made by Seeed Studio, "the manufacturer of the devices OpenAI found in its offices."

A note titled "OpenAI leave" that prosecutors say "suggested the defendant was planning an '[e]arly … pick up' of the devices."

The Justice Department said last week that OpenAI found a second recording device in a bag Alfozan left in another room on Oct. 5, and that a chatbot account tied to his wife was used to ask how to "build a continuous audio recorder" and "encrypt the SD card."

Prosecutors also wrote that Alfozan was applying to the Misk Foundation's "2030 Leaders" program, which would have required him to be in Riyadh.

The Defense: "Not the Profile of a Person With One Foot Out the Door"

Alfozan's attorney, William V. Pernik, argued in a 24-page motion filed Oct. 16 that "Saudi nationality is not evidence of flight." He wrote that Alfozan bought the one-way ticket on Sept. 13, "seventeen days before OpenAI found the device at issue and twenty-six days before his arrest, when there was no investigation to flee," and that the Oct. 12 date was the last day of a 60-day grace period his wife had to remain in the U.S. after her work authorization ended.

Pernik also wrote that Alfozan learned OpenAI had found the device "approximately eight to ten days before he was arrested. If his intention was to flee, he would have done so at that time." He said buying one-way tickets and booking the return later "is how Mr. Alfozan has traveled for years."

The motion says the Saudi Consulate General, in an Oct. 14 letter, said it "stands ready to cover the full amount of any bail bond the Court requires," and on Oct. 16 told U.S. Pretrial Services in writing that it "will not issue any travel documents" to Alfozan while he is released.

"Mr. Alfozan has lived in the United States for fifteen years and in the Bay Area for roughly ten," Pernik wrote. "Fifty-four people, at least twenty-seven of them in the Bay Area, have written to the Court, and they describe someone who organizes dinners, welcomes newcomers, mentors students, and shows up for friends' weddings, birthdays, and moves. That is not the profile of a person with one foot out the door."

The motion says Alfozan is a lawful permanent resident, has applied for U.S. citizenship and has no criminal record, and that his son was born in the U.S. and is a U.S. citizen.

The Charge

Alfozan is charged by criminal complaint with using or trying to use a device to intercept oral communications. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the Justice Department. The charge is an accusation, not a finding of guilt. On Monday, Judge Tse ordered him detained pending trial and set his next court date for Nov. 6, according to CNBC.

When the arrest was announced Oct. 13, FBI Director Kash Patel said Alfozan "allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer's executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company's super intelligence technology."

TDFP has asked the Saudi Embassy in Washington, Alfozan's attorney and OpenAI for comment and will update this story.

Sources: U.S. Attorney's Office, Memorandum in Support of United States' Motion for Detention, United States v. Alfozan, No. 3:26-mj-71329 (N.D. Cal., filed Oct. 18, 2026): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.480829/gov.uscourts.cand.480829.12.0_1.pdf ; Defendant's Motion for Pretrial Release (filed Oct. 16, 2026): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.480829/gov.uscourts.cand.480829.10.0.pdf ; Docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74958184/united-states-v-alfozan/ ; U.S. Department of Justice, "Saudi National Arrested for Installing Surreptitious Audio Recording Device at OpenAI" (Oct. 13, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/saudi-national-arrested-installing-surreptitious-audio-recording-device-openai ; CNBC, "OpenAI bugging: Saudi national Alfozan held without bail" (Oct. 19, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/19/openai-bugging-suspect-alfozan-saudi-royal-family.html ; Reuters, "Ex-OpenAI employee accused of planting device appears to have Saudi backing, court filing says" (Oct. 19, 2026): https://www.reuters.com/technology/ex-openai-employee-accused-planting-device-appears-have-saudi-backing-court-2026-10-19/