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Former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan pleaded not guilty to allegations of installing an eavesdropping device in a company executive conference room, with his lawyer filing the plea on Friday. A grand jury had previously indicted him on one felony count of illegally intercepting oral communications. He has been held in custody since his arrest on October 9, and the judge found that his ties to Saudi Arabia constitute a flight risk. The indictment does not allege theft of trade secrets or work for a foreign government, and the company also said there is no indication that he took model weights or source code. Other reports said he is accused of wrapping a device containing a circuit board and microphone in toilet paper and stuffing it behind a wall-mounted television in an executive conference room at the OpenAI office around September 28; he was arrested on the day he was fired in October, and his next court appearance is scheduled for November 17. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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OpenAI conference room eavesdropping case: Saudi defendant pleads not guilty, faces up to five years in prison if convicted
Al-Fawzan, a Saudi employee who once worked on OpenAI's product team, has pleaded not guilty to the charge of intercepting oral communications, which carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is accused of wrapping a device containing a circuit board and microphone in toilet paper and stuffing it behind a wall-mounted television in an executive conference room at OpenAI's office around September 28; he was arrested on the day he was fired in October, and his next court appearance is scheduled for November 17.
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OpenAI Meeting Room Wiretapping Case: Saudi Defendant Pleads Not Guilty, Faces Up to Five Years in Prison if Convicted
Saudi citizen Abdulrahman Al-Fawzan is accused of installing wiretapping equipment in a restricted-access meeting room at OpenAI. When he appeared in San Francisco federal court on November 7, he pleaded not guilty to the sole charge of intercepting oral communications, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He had worked on OpenAI's product team since July 2025, was fired this October and arrested the same day, and is currently in federal law enforcement custody, with his next court appearance scheduled for November 17.
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Former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan pleads not guilty to charges of installing a listening device in a conference room
Former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan pleaded not guilty to charges of installing a listening device in a company executive conference room; his lawyer filed the plea on Friday, after a grand jury indicted him on one felony count of unlawfully intercepting oral communications. He has been held in custody since his arrest on October 9, and the judge found that his ties to Saudi Arabia constitute a flight risk. The indictment does not allege theft of trade secrets or work for a foreign government, and the company also said there is no indication that he took model weights or source code.
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