U.S. Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse kept former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan in custody after prosecutors cited his Saudi contacts and help with family travel as evidence of flight risk, AFP and Fortune reported.
The Oct. 19 decision came as Alfozan, 35, faces one federal count alleging he used, or tried to use, a device to intercept spoken conversations. The Justice Department said he was arrested Oct. 9 and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. He has not been convicted.
The detention decision follows the allegation involving a recorder in an OpenAI conference room. The Justice Department said OpenAI staff found an encrypted device behind a television at its San Francisco office around Sept. 30. Prosecutors allege it was installed around Sept. 28; investigators found a similar device in Alfozan’s unattended bag around Oct. 5.
In their detention memo, prosecutors described regular WhatsApp contact between Alfozan and an unnamed member of Saudi Arabia’s royal family in 2025 and 2026. The latest exchange they cited was on Oct. 5. They said the royal family member had tried to recruit him for a Saudi artificial intelligence initiative.
Prosecutors also cited travel arranged for Alfozan’s wife and son after his arrest. They said the Saudi government paid for an Oct. 11 flight to Jeddah that was canceled, while a Saudi military official paid for the one-way business-class flight the family took from San Francisco to Doha, Qatar, on Oct. 10. Fortune reported that defense counsel identified the official at the hearing as Alfozan’s brother-in-law and said he used his own money.
Alfozan’s lawyers said the family’s travel plans predated the alleged installation: a one-way trip to Riyadh for Oct. 12 had been booked on Sept. 13 for family and immigration reasons. They proposed home detention, GPS monitoring and surrender of his travel documents. Their motion said the Saudi consulate offered to cover any bond the court set and to withhold new travel documents during his release. “Nationality is not evidence of flight,” the lawyers wrote.
Prosecutors said the room was used for confidential technical and business discussions, including meetings with government officials. Their memo does not allege that Saudi officials directed the alleged recording or received its contents. OpenAI said it had no indication Alfozan improperly accessed or took model weights, source code or customer data.
Fortune reported that a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 6.
