OpenAI engineer arrested by FBI had booked a one-way flight to Saudi Arabia THREE DAYS before his capture

A federal judge has already granted Apple early access to OpenAI's digital records, with depositions ordered on an expedited timetable ahead of a trial expected in October 2027.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national and OpenAI engineer, was charged this week with planting a covert audio recording device inside a conference room at the AI company, hidden in a TV's USB port and wrapped in toilet paper. The FBI arrested him three days before a one-way flight he had booked to Saudi Arabia was scheduled to leave. Alfozan had also worked at Meta and an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup; at RAED Ventures in Riyadh he held a venture partner role alongside a Saudi royal family member.

In a recent Arabic podcast, Alfozan spoke enthusiastically about his encounter with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and said young Saudis should 'learn from the source' at top tech firms before returning home.

The espionage case emerged the same week OpenAI separately accused a former employee of transmitting more than 100 confidential files concerning an unreleased device to Apple after joining the iPhone maker.

The GuardianOpenAI accuses employee who left for Apple of leaking plans for unreleased device Financial TimesOpenAI claims employee sent secret device information to Apple NY PostOpenAI engineer arrested by FBI for allegedly bugging conference room had booked one-way flight to Saudi Arabia DigitOpenAI alleges ex-employee shared files about unreleased product with Apple, says iPhone maker can benefit from trade secrets The TelegraphOpenAI employee accused of spying had ‘one-way ticket to Saudi Arabia’NY PostOpenAI claims ex-employee brought confidential docs about ‘unreleased device’ to Apple

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