The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking at potentially adding an economic espionage charge against Abdulrahman Alfozan, the former OpenAI engineer who faces wiretapping allegations that he bugged a restricted conference room, a law-enforcement official said.
Alfozan, 35, is a Saudi national and a legal permanent resident of the U.S. He studied computer science at MIT and worked at tech firms including Meta before joining OpenAI in 2025. 19 hearing , with the judge determining him to be a serious flight risk. 6. Alfozan allegedly replied, “100.
It is possible the probe won’t lead to any additional charges, the official said.
The investigation centers on the possibility that Alfozan stole information from OpenAI in order to offer it to the Saudi government, even if he wasn’t recruited to do so, the official said. The law-enforcement official said the government’s ongoing investigation was exploring whether Alfozan committed offenses including the theft of trade secrets, in addition to questions about economic espionage. Alfozan also said at the time that he wouldn’t leave until his OpenAI stock had vested, according to prosecutors.
Alfozan was denied bail in an Oct. The former OpenAI engineer and Saudi national is accused of wrapping a thumb-sized circuit board and microphone in toilet paper and inserting the device behind a wall-mounted TV inside a conference room that is mostly used by company executives. He is charged with violating a federal recording statute, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. His next court hearing is scheduled for Nov. The Saudi embassy in Washington and OpenAI declined to comment. The company had alerted the FBI shortly after finding it.
Unbeknown to him, the device had been removed by OpenAI during a security sweep days earlier.
