FBI Arrests OpenAI Engineer Accused of Bugging Conference Room

Federal prosecutors say an OpenAI engineer hid an encrypted listening device behind a television in the room where the company's top executives hold their most sensitive meetings, then kept coming back to check on it.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national who worked on OpenAI's product team, was arrested by the FBI on October 9 and appeared in federal court in San Francisco on Tuesday. The Justice Department unsealed the case the same day. Alfozan is charged with using, or trying to use, an electronic device to intercept oral communications. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A device wrapped in toilet paper

According to the criminal complaint, OpenAI employees found the device on September 30, plugged into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room. It was wrapped in toilet paper. Prosecutors say it had been installed around September 28 and that its contents were encrypted.

The room is used for what prosecutors called highly confidential discussions about proprietary research, product plans and business opportunities. OpenAI said the device had advanced encryption, audio monitoring and a way to move data out that was designed to avoid detection.

OpenAI caught the case with its own tools. "We used our models to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier," the company said in a statement. "We referred the matter to the FBI."

Caught on camera, more than once

Alfozan joined OpenAI in July 2025 and, according to the complaint, had no authorization to be in or near the executive conference room. Security footage still showed him near it on nearly a dozen occasions in September. OpenAI then installed a camera in the room itself. Last week, prosecutors say, that camera caught him walking in and checking behind the television where the device had been hidden.

The complaint also says Alfozan used an internal tool to look up company building addresses, meeting rooms, room capacities, calendars and the locations of executive staff. Days before his arrest, OpenAI staff opened an unattended bag he had left in a different room and found his wallet, identification and a second recording device similar to the first one.

Prosecutors say a chatbot account linked to Alfozan's spouse, which shared identifiers with his own account, had been used to ask about building and hiding recording equipment, including continuous audio recorders with Wi-Fi and live listening.

Washington treats it as a security case

FBI Director Kash Patel said the device was meant to capture sensitive communications about the company's superintelligence technology, and called protecting that work one of the bureau's highest counterintelligence priorities. Attorney General Todd Blanche said theft of intellectual property involving cutting-edge superintelligence technology is a serious national security threat.

OpenAI says the damage appears contained. The company said it has no indication that Alfozan accessed or stole model weights, source code or customer data. He was fired before his arrest.

What happens next

Alfozan remains in federal custody. A detention hearing is set for Monday, October 19, in the Northern District of California. The FBI says its investigation is continuing, and prosecutors have laid out evidence they say points to plans for more listening devices in other sensitive locations. It was not immediately clear whether Alfozan has a lawyer who can speak for him.