Prosecutors said a Saudi military official booked and paid for one way business class tickets for Alfozan's wife and three month old son to fly out of the US to Doha, Qatar, after his Oct. 9 arrest. They do not allege the royal directed Alfozan to plant a listening device and have not charged him with espionage, but argued he should be held without bail because he has the connections to flee. Saudi officials have not commented.
The conference room Alfozan is accused of bugging hosted sensitive meetings between OpenAI executives, business partners and government officials around the time the device was planted, and prosecutors warned his alleged conduct "could pose a danger to the national security of the United States." OpenAI fired Alfozan after discovering the encrypted recorder behind a television on Sept. 30 and said it found no indication that model weights, source code or customer data were accessed or taken.