Ex-OpenAI engineer accused of bugging a meeting room had Saudi support, prosecutors say

Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national, is charged with hiding an audio recorder behind a TV in an OpenAI executive conference room, found on Sep 30.

The allegation

Prosecutors say he was in frequent contact with a member of the Saudi royal family, and that a Saudi military official paid for his wife and son's one-way flight after his arrest.

Prosecutors want him held as a flight risk; his lawyers say the tickets were for paternity leave and propose home confinement with GPS monitoring.

Maximum sentence

5 years in prison

If convicted, Alfozan faces a maximum of five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine.