A criminal complaint unsealed this week details that an engineer at OpenAI concealed a miniature audio recorder inside a roll of toilet paper and affixed it behind a monitor in a San Francisco executive conference room. Prosecutors say the device was hidden in a USB port on the back of a television and was discovered during a countersurveillance sweep on September 30. The complaint identifies the targeted space as one reserved for senior leadership and external briefings.
Federal prosecutors describe the suspect as Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national who holds U.S. permanent residency. The filing alleges he spent weeks querying an internal “productivity agent” and an unnamed AI chatbot to map meetings in the room and to obtain technical guidance for building a covert recorder. Court documents also indicate he used a chatbot account linked to his spouse to ask detailed questions about assembling the device.
OpenAI’s security team recovered a Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense board, a thumb-sized development module equipped with a detachable camera, digital microphone and microSD storage. The board, retailing for under $14, was found concealed in the toilet-paper roll and later in the employee’s bag. Investigators attempted to extract the microSD contents but the data remained encrypted, preventing immediate analysis of any captured audio.
Alfozan appeared before the U.S. District Court in San Francisco on a single count of using an electronic device to intercept oral communications. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment if a conviction is secured. OpenAI terminated his employment in early June, aligning the dismissal with his arrest, and subsequently disabled his access to internal systems as the investigation progressed.
Following the discovery, OpenAI alerted the FBI and reviewed internal chat logs, surveillance footage, and a bag left unattended in a printer room on October 5. The bag contained a second encrypted Seeed listening module, a wallet and personal items, but no credit card or cash that the employee later reported missing. Security personnel removed the hidden device, and the company gradually restricted the employee’s network privileges while coordinating with federal authorities.
Alfozan’s LinkedIn profile lists prior roles at a cargo-logistics startup, Meta, and a part-time venture-partner position with Saudi-based RAED Ventures, a firm that has invested in U.S. tech. The case arrives amid ongoing scrutiny of Saudi involvement in American AI, highlighted by a recent agreement that granted the kingdom access to advanced chips and artificial-intelligence technologies despite national-security concerns. Neither RAED Ventures nor Meta responded to requests for comment.