Abdulrahman Alfozan has a glowing LinkedIn profile, more of a natural fit for a future CEO than someone arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as he was on Oct. 9. It lists nine awards, five volunteer experiences, an enthusiastic recommendation from a coworker, a healthcare-related patent, degrees from two top-tier U.S. universities, and positions at well-known companies such as SAP, Microsoft, Meta, and, of course, OpenAI.
The federal complaint charging him with secretly placing a recording device in an executive conference room does not allege a motive. But since his arrest, the internet has done what it does best: dug up details about his past.
Venture partner at a Saudi-based firm
Alfozan is a Saudi national who has been a legal permanent resident of the U.S. since Sept. 2020, according to court documents. He has a 15-year professional and educational history in the states, beginning with his enrollment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011. While most of his work history since then has been U.S.-focused, in 2025 he became one of 20 venture partners at the Saudi Arabia-based RAED Ventures. He is still pictured on their website, but RAED has not responded to Fortune’s requests for comment on whether he is still associated with the firm.
Also at the firm, pictured in the screenshot below of RAED’s site is Prince Khalid bin Bader Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family. He joined RAED as a partner on Feb. 6, 2025, two days before RAED announced Alfozan joined the firm on Feb. 8, 2025. Alfozan didn’t join OpenAI until July 2025, the company told Fortune in a statement, while Alfozan’s personal LinkedIn says he joined the company in Sept. 2025. OpenAI did not respond to a question about the discrepancy.
It’s unclear whether OpenAI allowed Alfozan to hold an outside investing role at RAED while he worked there. The company declined to respond to Fortune’s request for its conflict-of-interest policy.
Abdulrahman Alfozan was still listed on RAED’s website after news of his arrest surfaced.RAEDThe complaint does not charge him with stealing trade secrets, nor does it allege that he acted for a foreign government. OpenAI said in a post on X that it had “no indications” he inappropriately accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code or customer data.
Alfozan has been “charged with using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications,” the DOJ said. A trial attorney from the department’s National Security Division, in its Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, is assisting the prosecution.
The government of Saudi Arabia has demonstrated interest in U.S. AI companies. In 2025, AI chip startup Groq secured a $1.5 billion commitment from the kingdom, Reuters reported. Saudi Arabia also has a state-backed artificial intelligence company, HUMAIN, which in 2025, led a $900 million funding round for the media production startup Luma AI that year, Semafor reported. HUMAIN also partnered with U.S.-based AI coding platform Replit in 2025.
OpenAI reportedly held talks with Saudi Arabian investors in 2025, which The Information reported at the time. In Jan. 2026, the company returned to the Middle East and was in talks with sovereign wealth funds, CNBC reported at the time. Nothing in the court filings connects Alfozan to any of these investments.
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A Sept. 12 video from Smashi Business, which covers Arab tech news, identifies Alfozan as OpenAI’s only Saudi employee. He called his time at the company a ““great experience.”
A one-way ticket out of the U.S.
Starting Aug. 17, Alfozan allegedly asked a productivity agent about OpenAI’s conference room capacities and which meetings were held in them, the complaint says. OpenAI told Fortune the alleged agent was an internal tool. He also asked how to send USPS packages to the building.
Then, starting on Sept. 24, Alfozan allegedly used a chatbot account associated with his wife to submit prompts about building a continuous audio recorder, encrypting its memory card and adding live listening, according to the complaint. OpenAI told Fortune the alleged chatbot was ChatGPT. He is then alleged to have planted the device on or about Sept. 28. Sources told Fortune OpenAI found the device during a routine sweep on Sept. 30.
That’s when the company alerted the federal government. A camera was then placed behind the TV in the conference room where the device was located, and Alfozan was subsequently seen on the camera on Oct. 5. The company terminated Alfozan on Oct. 9, the same day the FBI arrested him.
That’s three days before Alfozan, his wife and a third family member had booked one-way tickets from San Francisco to Saudi Arabia, via Istanbul, for Oct. 12, according to a motion to seal the case.
Court documents don’t say why the family booked the trip. Prosecutors cited it in asking a judge to keep the complaint sealed until this week. “The defendant has the means—and will have an incentive—to flee the United States sooner if he learns about this case before he is arrested,” the motion reads.
Alfozan first appeared in federal court on Oct. 13, and he will return again on Oct. 19.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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