OpenAI engineer charged after a listening device was found in an executive conference room
Federal prosecutors charged Abdulrahman Alfozan with trying to intercept oral communications. OpenAI says it found no sign he accessed model weights, source code or customer data.
An OpenAI engineer, Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, has been charged in federal court in San Francisco with "using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications," the Associated Press reported on October 13. According to the criminal complaint, employees found the device on September 30, "inserted into a USB port on the back of a television" in an executive conference room and concealed in toilet paper.
How it was traced
CBS News reports that the complaint includes a photo of Alfozan entering the room on October 5 and looking behind the television, and that security found a similar recording device in his unattended bag the same day. OpenAI said it reported the device to the FBI, fired the employee, and that "we used our models to understand the device." He was arrested on a Friday and made his first appearance on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California; CBS reports a detention hearing is set for October 19. He had worked at OpenAI since July 2025.
What OpenAI says was not taken
The company said it had "no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights," and no sign of access to source code or customer data. The complaint does not say what he intended to do with any recordings, and it was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer.
Why it matters
Insider risk at the labs is now a line item buyers should ask about. If your company sends contracts, customer records or strategy through a model vendor, the vendor's internal controls are part of your own exposure, and they belong in the same review as price and performance.