The OpenAI engineer who was arrested and charged last month for planting a covert audio recording device in the company's office has pleaded not guilty.
According to reports from Bloomberg and CNBC, Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan made an appearance in San Francisco federal court on Friday, where he entered the plea. His next hearing is scheduled for November 17, 2026.
If proven guilty, the 35-year-old faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by three years of supervised release. He has been held without bail since his arrest on October 9, 2026.
Late last month, a grand jury indicted Alfozan on a single count of interception of oral communications.
Prosecutors allege that the former OpenAI employee placed a "sophisticated recording device" in an executive OpenAI conference room in what has been described as an attempt to unlawfully record sensitive conversations.
He was arrested three days before he, along with his wife and son, were scheduled to fly from San Francisco to Riyadh on a one-way ticket.
"His wife and son, however, immediately left the United States without him," U.S. prosecutors said. "Rather than wait until the October 12 flight as booked, they initially planned to fly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on October 11 on a one-way ticket booked and paid for by the Saudi government."
"That flight was canceled, however, when a member of the Saudi military booked and paid for yet another one-way ticket for the defendant's wife and son, this one business class to Doha, Qatar, on October 10, 2026. They did make that flight, departing San Francisco about 36 hours after the defendant was arrested."
In a subsequent court filing, it was alleged that Alfozan was in frequent contact with a member of the Saudi Royal Family via WhatsApp. He was also deemed a flight risk, with court documents claiming that the defendant took great pains to create bespoke, encrypted recording devices to record sensitive meetings involving senior OpenAI personnel and executives.
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