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Home/Tech/DOJ charges OpenAI engineer with planting a recording device in an executive conference room
?UNDER REVIEWBy Xavier Rivera·Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at 9:24 PM EDT·1 min read

DOJ charges OpenAI engineer with planting a recording device in an executive conference room

Federal prosecutors charged OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national, with intercepting oral communications. The complaint alleges he hid a covert recording device in an OpenAI executive conference room.

Source:justice.gov
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DOJ charges OpenAI engineer with planting a recording device in an executive conference room
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The Justice Department has charged Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national employed as an engineer at OpenAI, with using or endeavoring to use a device to intercept oral communications.

Alfozan was arrested Oct. 9 and appeared in federal court Oct. 13.

According to the complaint unsealed Oct. 13, Alfozan allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside OpenAI's executive conference room in San Francisco to capture sensitive communications, FBI Director Kash Patel said in the department's announcement.

The charge carries up to five years in prison.
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If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. A complaint contains allegations only; he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Officials framed the case as a counterintelligence matter.
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The FBI said protecting U.S. AI innovation is among its highest counterintelligence priorities. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.
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