In a newly unsealed court document, U.S. federal prosecutors told the judge that Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi man accused of secretly installing recording equipment in an executive meeting room at OpenAI, had booked one-way tickets from San Francisco to Saudi Arabia with his wife and another family member before his arrest.

In a document submitted on October 8th, the San Francisco United States Attorney's Office stated that Alfozan "has the ability—and would have the motive—to flee the United States earlier after becoming aware of this case and before being arrested." The document at that time requested that the judge seal the criminal complaints against him as well as the arrest warrant.

The documents state that these airline tickets were booked for a flight on October 12th, traveling from San Francisco via Istanbul to Saudi Arabia. The judge approved the request for sealing the documents, while the U.S. Department of Justice stated that Alfozan was arrested on October 9th.

The Ministry of Justice stated that since his arrest, he has been in custody ever since.

35-year-old Alfozan is a venture partner at a Saudi venture capital firm, and the company's website indicates that a prince from the Saudi royal family is also one of its partners.

The venture capital firm named Raed Ventures stated on its website that Alfozan, who resides in the San Francisco area, "is an experienced technical professional with profound expertise in startups, entrepreneurship, and the expansion of technology companies."

The introduction on the Raed website also states: "He currently serves as the project leader for OpenAI, focusing on AI Agents and the data platform."

Raed focuses on investments in the Middle East region. The company's website shows that Alfozan joined the company on February 8, 2025. Two days prior to that, Raed mentioned that Saudi Prince Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud also joined as a risk partner. Risk partners typically play advisory or project-based roles, rather than serving as investment partners or directors responsible for fundraising or leading transactions.

The Ministry of Justice stated that Alfozan has been working at OpenAI since July 2025. OpenAI indicated that he was dismissed this month.

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that when Saudi tech influencers visited San Francisco in September, "it was Alfozan who received them in the office at OpenAI and took them on a tour."

An ex-CIA official stated in an interview with CNBC that Raed Ventures "is essentially a state institution of the Saudi government." Due to the nature of his past work, this former official, who has extensive experience in the Middle East, requested to remain anonymous. A fund affiliated with Raed received investment from Saudi Venture Capital in December 2024; the latter is a subsidiary of SME Bank, which in turn is under the Saudi Arabia National Development Fund.

In addition to serving as the risk partner of Raed, Prince Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud is also a member of the Saudi ruling family, the Al Saud family, and holds the position of Managing Director and Vice Chairman of their family's private office, according to his profile on the Raed website.

This former CIA official stated that if Alfozan is involved in eavesdropping on OpenAI as part of a state-supported espionage operation, then this indicates that "even within the context of AI and technological prosperity, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has assessed that the risks of conducting economic espionage against a close ally are worth it."

This former official also said that this incident "is very likely just the tip of the iceberg."

The criminal complaint regarding Alfozan does not allege that Raed or any of its other partners were aware of the alleged installation of recording equipment by Alfozan at OpenAI.

The Ministry of Justice stated that this case is prosecuted by the National Security, Cyber, and Special Prosecutions Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.

Alfozan has been charged with one offense in the U.S. Federal District Court of San Francisco, which is the use or attempt to use electronic, mechanical, or other devices to intercept oral communications.

He is currently in custody, awaiting a detention hearing on October 19th, at which time his lawyer can strive for his release on bail. The Ministry of Justice stated that if convicted, he could face up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Alfozan has not been accused of corporate espionage or theft of trade secrets.

OpenAI discussed investing in this AI company with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund earlier this year.

Raed did not immediately respond to the request for comment. CNBC has also requested a comment from the Saudi embassy in Washington.

The criminal defense attorney William Pernik, identified by Alfozan, informed CNBC via email: 'At present, the information available is extremely limited, as the prosecution documents were only unsealed yesterday.'

OpenAI refused on Wednesday to comment on whether they were aware of Alfozan's position at the Saudi company. The company also stated that, for reasons of operational security, they could not disclose any more details about the meeting room involved.

The company posted on X on Tuesday, stating: "At present, we have no indications that this person has improperly accessed or leaked model weights, source code, or customer data."

"We place great emphasis on the protection of technology, data, and personnel, which is also an important matter at the national level," the company stated. "Our security initiatives are designed to thwart a wide range of threats, from internal risks to cyber criminals to national adversaries, and this case is an example of how AI helps us to address these complex security challenges."

Alfozan mentioned in a recent interview on the podcast "Identity Capital" regarding his career experience that in July 2016, he and other Saudis working at different tech companies in Silicon Valley met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who at that time had become the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. The Crown Prince was visiting Silicon Valley to promote his "Vision 2030" economic diversification plan.

"One of the issues we discussed is whether we should return to [the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] now to bring back our technical skills in order to improve the economy... or whether we should work for a few more years to accumulate more experience before going back," Alfozan said in this interview, which was conducted in Arabic, translated by CNBC, and went live on September 24th.

According to Alfozan, Ben Salman responded, "The country is undergoing significant construction, but there are not yet enough talents to cultivate the next generation in order to continue these development plans."

Alfozan added that this group of young employees 'ultimately decided that it would be best to continue learning and improving their skills, and then bring our knowledge back to [Saudi Arabia] in order to improve the tech industry.'

Throughout the entire podcast, Alfozan detailed his journey from programming at a high school in Daman, Saudi Arabia, to later developing his career in the United States. During the interview, he referred to himself as an "introverted person," yet he still strives to help other young professionals achieve success in Silicon Valley.

Days after the podcast went live, on September 30th, a federal criminal complaint stated that an employee of OpenAI discovered "a concealed audio recording device plugged into a USB interface behind a television in a meeting room."

The complaint alleges that the device was equipped with a detachable camera sensor, a digital microphone, and a microSD memory card, and was concealed within toilet paper.

According to the complaint, Alfozan is not authorized to enter this meeting room, which is often used to "discuss highly confidential technical, business, and strategic information."

The complaint states that this meeting room "can only be reserved by executives and executive assistants" and is typically used for "internal leadership meetings, technical and product meetings, as well as external briefings with government officials and business partners."

According to the complaints, CCTV footage from OpenAI shows that Alfozan appeared near the meeting room at different times over several days in September.

The document also states that in August and September, Alfozan used a AI productivity tool to query the building addresses, meeting room capacities, scheduling information of OpenAI, as well as "external partner meetings".

The complaint also stated that a chatbot related to the spouse of Alfozan – which the prosecution alleged shared several identification features with Alfozan's own account – was said to have provided detailed instructions on how to build, customize, install, and remotely access recording devices. The complaint did not accuse the spouse of any improper behavior, and the spouse was not named in the complaint.

After discovering a recording device in the conference room television, OpenAI installed a camera in that room and filed a complaint.

A complaint alleges that at around 1:20 p.m. on October 5th, the camera captured Alfozan entering the meeting room and "checking behind the television where the recording device 1 was inserted."

The complaint also stated that on the same day, Alfozan left a unattended bag in a printing room at OpenAI.

OpenAI Security personnel found his wallet, ID card, and "another recording device" inside the bag. The device was produced by the same Chinese manufacturer, Seeed, as was the device inserted into the conference room television, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges that the second recording device, like the first one, "is equipped with a recording microcontroller" and "has been customized to conceal any content stored within the device, such as audio communications that could potentially be intercepted."

The complaint alleges that Alfozan reported to OpenAI that he had lost his bag, and the bag was subsequently returned to him, but the second recording device was not returned along with it. He did not inquire about that device, although he did ask about some other items he claimed to have lost, according to the complaint.

The head of the San Francisco division, Scott Schelble, stated on Tuesday regarding the arrest of Alfozan: "Any attempt to illegally obtain protected information from American superintelligence and technology companies threatens American innovation as well as the national security interests that depend on such progress." He used the term for artificial intelligence favored by the Trump administration.

Before joining OpenAI, Alfozan had long-term work experience in the Bay Area.

On his LinkedIn page, Alfozan describes himself as "a senior engineering leader with 11 years of experience in building data and AI / ML domain scalable, reliable software systems."

His profile also states: "He has proven track record in leading engineering teams, delivering complex projects, and managing corporate products. He possesses strong project management skills, as well as a passion for fostering a culture of collaboration and engineering excellence."

Before joining OpenAI, Alfozan was the founding engineer of AI Logistics Company Nash, as displayed on the LinkedIn page.

Before Nash, he served as a Senior System Engineer at Meta, the parent company of Facebook, from 2017 to 2022, as displayed on the LinkedIn page. Prior to that, he also interned at Microsoft, according to his profile.

On the LinkedIn page of Alfozan, it is shown that he studied Computer Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Data Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

The MIT Media Relations Office stated that he studied at the school from January 2011 to January 2014, and again from February 2016 to May 2016, but did not obtain a degree.

A spokesperson from the University of California, Berkeley stated that Alfozan studied at the university from January 2023 to May 2025 and obtained a master's degree.

He mentioned on LinkedIn that in 2016 he worked as a research intern at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia.

According to this profile, in 2020 he won a second-place prize of $50,000 at the Saudi COVID Challenge, a hackathon event.

Alfozan is a residence located on the hills of Millbrae, California, with views of San Francisco Bay and the Diablo Mountains in sight. This small suburb in Santa Mateo County is very popular among tech professionals, being about a 30-minute drive south of San Francisco and about a 25-minute drive north of Stanford University. CNBC When the journalist rang the doorbell on Wednesday, no one answered.

The Financial Times reported that Alfozan "was born in the extremely conservative Qassim region in central Saudi Arabia," but "grew up in Dammam, a province in the eastern part of the kingdom that is rich in oil resources."

The Financial Times also reported that in a documentary about Alfozan broadcast on Saudi television, his father said that when Alfozan was young, he participated in a government-supported program for gifted children, where he studied mathematics, physics, and engineering, and was able to "read an encyclopedia from beginning to end."

"We are awaiting evidence from the government regarding my client and look forward to presenting all appropriate defenses in court," said Pernik.

"The statement I can make on his behalf is that, like countless Americans, Mr. Alfozan came to this country with dreams when he was still young many years ago," said the lawyer. "He spent many years studying and working, and has contributed to America's technology industry, which to a large extent was built by immigrants like him."

"These accusations don't seem at all in line with his style. We will relentlessly investigate all the evidence provided by the government in this case to understand what exactly happened, who is responsible, and any possible reasons," said Pernik.

This lawyer pointed out that Alfozan 'is accused of violating federal recording regulations, rather than stealing trade secrets or acting as an agent for a foreign entity.'

"There is currently no evidence to suggest that this is not the case, at least not any evidence that has been disclosed to us," said Pernik. "Where a person is born does not prove anything, and nationality—in our legal system—should always be a protected status."

– Ashley Capoot, Lora Kolodny and Reem Nasr have contributed to this report.