A now ex-employee at OpenAI has been arrested for allegedly trying to spy on executives using an audio recording device secretly planted in a conference room.
The suspect, 35-year-old Abdulrahman Alfozan, appeared in a US district court today on charges of espionage, according to the US Justice Department, which described the case as a matter of national security.
At the end of September, a secret audio recording device was found in the back of a television in a conference room used to discuss confidential matters. “OpenAI determined that the device, which was hidden in toilet paper, was installed on or about September 28, and that its contents were encrypted,” the Justice Department said.
(Credit: DOJ)
The investigation traced the device to Alfozan, a Saudi national who was hired in July 2025. Surveillance footage showed that Alfozan appeared near the conference room “on several dates prior to the discovery of the device, although he did not have authority to access or participate in meetings occurring in the executive conference room,” the department said.
Alfozan also allegedly used an unnamed productivity tool to ask about OpenAI meeting rooms and executive offices. A chatbot account belonging to his spouse also filed “between Sept. 24 and Sept. 30 in connection with the construction, customization, installation, audio recording, testing, duplicating and remote access of a device,” the Justice Department added. (OpenAI says it may review a user’s ChatGPT content when “investigating abuse or a security incident.”)
(Credit: DOJ)
It then appears that investigators tried to catch the culprit by installing a secret camera behind the TV after the listening device was found. The Department of Justice noted “that on October 5, Alfozan entered the executive conference room and appeared to be looking behind the television in which Recording Device 1 was inserted,” which was caught on camera.
(Credit: DOJ)
On the same day, Alfozan also left a bag in another room at the office. “OpenAI security personnel found and opened Alfozan’s bag, in which they discovered – among other things, including Alfozan’s wallet and ID – another recording device (Recording Device 2) similar to Recording Device 1,” the department says.
(Credit: DOJ)
OpenAI added that it originally used the company’s AI models to “understand the device and where it came from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier. We referred the matter to the FBI, and we are grateful to the agents and prosecutors who moved quickly to make an arrest. Alfozan has since been fired.
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The purpose-built executive conference room was often used to hold confidential discussions on a range of sensitive topics, including “proprietary research, product plans, and business development opportunities,” as well as strategic decisions and government relations.
A LinkedIn page for Alfozan says he was an engineering leader for AI and data systems. However, OpenAI noted: “At this time, we have no indications that this individual inappropriately accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code, or customer data.”
The complaint against Alfozan was also just dismissed. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by three years of supervised release, according to federal officials. In the meantime, the case is already raising suspicions that the Saudi Arabian government might be involved.
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