Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse said the bond had to be weighed against the possibility that Alfozan "potentially has access to much greater wealth." "Once he leaves, there's no getting him back, and that's why this is a bigger case," Tse said in the San Francisco courtroom. Alfozan will stay in federal custody until a preliminary hearing on Nov. 6. He has been jailed since the FBI arrested him on Oct. 9.
The FBI alleges Alfozan planted the device on Sept. 28 in a conference room where executives and sometimes government officials discussed sensitive information. He faces one count of using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications, which carries a maximum of five years in prison. He was charged by criminal complaint and has not been indicted or entered a plea. The complaint does not charge him with espionage, theft of trade secrets, or acting as an agent of a foreign government, a point his defense stressed.
OpenAI terminated Alfozan's employment on Oct. 9, though his lawyer said the company never formally told him and that he had been placed on administrative leave before his arrest. OpenAI has said it has "no indications" that he inappropriately accessed or took model weights, source code, or customer data. Tse noted that OpenAI would not have fired him if it had no concern about what it found.
Prosecutors argued there was reason to believe Alfozan would leave the country and that he posed a danger to the community and to U.S. national security. "That is the concern, that something is going to leave OpenAI and the U.S., and quite frankly we don't even know what that is," Assistant U.S. Attorney Nick Parker said.
Court filings describe what a federal search of his home and cell phone found: electronic components similar to the device allegedly installed behind a TV in the conference room, a second device found in his bag, photographs of another recording device dated Sept. 22 to Sept. 28, and photos of input and output panels on televisions in various OpenAI buildings. A deleted note from September contained links to recording devices. Notes titled "Riyadh tasks" and "OpenAI leave" were also found, and his browsing history showed he accessed a folder called "Saudi Gov Docs" and queried an internal OpenAI tool about staff suitable for a high-level informal meeting with ministers in Saudi Arabia.
Defense attorney William Pernik said Alfozan has been in the U.S. for 15 years, received his green card in 2020, and joined OpenAI in 2025. The one-way flight to Saudi Arabia booked for Oct. 12 was tied to his wife's expired work permit and his planned paternity leave, and 70 percent of his airline bookings since January 2021 were one-way, the defense said. His wife initially told authorities they intended to move permanently to Saudi Arabia; the defense said she now plans to return on a temporary visa. "If he really were an agent of a foreign government, why wouldn't he just leave right away?" Pernik said. He also disputed the account of the conference room, saying, "This was an open room where anyone could walk in," and argued that "OpenAI encouraged Mr. Alfozan to be involved with Saudi Arabia."