Judge orders ex-OpenAI engineer accused of spying on executives to remain in custody

Summary

A judge ordered former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national, to remain in custody and likened an offer by the Saudi government to secure his release to a "blank check." He is accused of planting a recording device in an executive conference room at OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters, and reports say he was ordered held without bail after the Saudi government offered to pay. The Hacker News reports that a U.S. court on Monday granted the government's request to detain him, and that prosecutors' new court filing on Sunday revealed frequent communications via WhatsApp.

Timeline

1. WIRED

   19 Oct 2026, 19:49 UTCSource ↗

   WIRED reports that a judge ordered former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan to remain in custody and likened the Saudi government's offer to secure his release to a "blank check."

2. CNBC

   19 Oct 2026, 20:12 UTCSource ↗

   CNBC reports that Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan is accused of planting a recording device in an executive conference room at OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters and was held without bail after the Saudi government offered to pay.

3. The Hacker News

   20 Oct 2026, 05:53 UTCSource ↗

   The Hacker News reports that a U.S. court on Monday granted the government's request to detain former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan, whom prosecutors said in a Sunday filing were in frequent communications via WhatsApp.