Ex-OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan ordered detained in spying case

The detention ruling caps a rapid sequence of events that began when OpenAI discovered a recording device hidden in a conference room about two weeks before Alfozan's planned departure. That device had been in place for at least multiple days and was active during a top-secret meeting with US government officials, according to the court filing.

The government's case rests heavily on Alfozan's ties to Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors said he had been chatting with a member of the Saudi royal family on WhatsApp and pursuing opportunities to move back during the country's biggest AI push yet, branded Vision 2030. Shortly before his arrest, the FBI found he had accessed a folder called 'Saudi Gov Docs' on his iPhone. His wife and son left the US for Saudi Arabia after his arrest, and the government alleged a member of the Saudi military booked and paid for their one-way business-class ticket to Doha, Qatar.

To justify detention, prosecutors pointed to a prior case involving former Twitter employees charged with spying for the Saudi government, where one defendant remains at large partly because a Saudi foreign official helped coordinate a next-day flight. Alfozan's own resources—an annual base salary of $325,000 and a new hire equity grant of $2,200,000 in profit participation units—were cited as further flight risk. The judge's decision means the case will proceed with Alfozan in custody, while prosecutors signal more serious charges may follow.