FBI arrests OpenAI employee for allegedly planting encrypted recording device in executive conference room

Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national and OpenAI employee, was arrested and charged with using an electronic device to intercept oral communications, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

The recording device was found concealed in toilet paper and inserted into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room at OpenAI’s San Francisco office, according to the Department of Justice. Prosecutors said it was installed on or around September 28 and discovered two days later, on September 30. The device was encrypted, and the DOJ described it as sophisticated. OpenAI told TechCrunch it contained advanced encryption, audio monitoring capabilities, and a mechanism for transferring data designed to evade monitoring, though it is unclear how technically distinct the device is from other recording devices.

OpenAI said it used its own AI models to understand the device and identify the employee who planted it. “We used our models to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier,” the company said in a statement. The employee was terminated. OpenAI referred the matter to the FBI.

How the investigation unfolded

CCTV footage showed Alfozan near the executive conference room on multiple dates before the device was discovered, despite not being authorized to access the room, prosecutors said. On or about October 5, footage captured him entering the conference room and appearing to look behind the television where the device had been installed. That same day, Alfozan left a bag unattended in another part of the building; when OpenAI security opened it, they found his wallet, ID, and a second recording device similar to the one in the conference room. According to the FBI, a chatbot was used to research topics related to building, customizing, installing, audio recording, testing, obfuscating, and remote accessing a device. The DOJ said a chatbot account associated with Alfozan’s spouse shared multiple identifiers and attributes with Alfozan’s own chatbot account and was used to seek information about continuous audio recording and Wi-Fi.

FBI Director Kash Patel said Alfozan allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer’s executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications, and that the alleged goal was to capture information about the company’s AI product or super intelligence technology. US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the case was taken extremely seriously, adding that theft of intellectual property involving super intelligence technology poses a serious threat to national security.

OpenAI’s response

OpenAI stated it had no indications that the individual inappropriately accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code, or customer data. The company said its security program is designed to protect against a wide range of threat actors, from insider risks to cybercriminals to nation states. The FBI’s investigation is ongoing.

Alfozan’s background

Alfozan had been employed at OpenAI since July 2025, working as an engineer; OpenAI spokesperson Nate Evans confirmed he worked on the product team. He is listed as a venture partner at Raed Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on the Middle East and North Africa and headquartered in Riyadh. Raed Ventures announced Alfozan as a venture partner two days after announcing another venture partner. The announcement listed previous roles at Meta, Microsoft, and SAP, and said he studied computer science and engineering at MIT.

Alfozan was arrested on October 9 and has remained in custody since. He appeared in federal court on Tuesday. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.