OpenAI engineer charged after boardroom bug found wrapped in toilet paper

FBI alleges covert recorder was plugged into a TV, with a second device later discovered in the employee's bag

The Department of Justice has charged an OpenAI engineer with attempting to intercept oral communications after allegedly planting a recording device in an exec conference room.

Investigators claim company security staff found a second device in his bag.

Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, is described in court documents as an engineer at OpenAI who had worked there since July 2025, and has held permanent residency in the US since September 2020. He was arrested on October 9 and made his initial federal court appearance on October 13.

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He is accused of installing, on or around September 28, 2026, a Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense recording device via a USB port in a TV located in OpenAI's executive conference room.

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According to the complaint, staff discovered the device concealed in toilet paper on September 30.

OpenAI said it used its models to analyze the device. According to the complaint, it may have been modified to prevent data transfer between the recorder and the TV.

The contents of the bug's microSD card may also have been encrypted, as the company could not retrieve any of the data stored on the card after making a forensic image of it.

CCTV footage placed him near the room on several dates, although prosecutors say Alfozan had no authority to access or participate in meetings held in the executive conference room, which is often reserved for the highest-level discussions.

Officials did not state whether the device was able to capture anything of importance, but said the room typically plays host to non-public and secret technical meetings, as well as those with government representatives.

OpenAI did not have CCTV covering the executive conference room at the time when the secret device was planted, but the company subsequently installed a camera. Court documents [PDF] include an image taken on October 5 from a camera situated behind the TV into which the DoJ claims the recording device was installed, allegedly showing Alfozan checking on it.

Investigators examined Alfozan's devices, according to the complaint, which alleges that between around August 17 and September 16, 2026, Alfozan used a productivity agent to inquire about company building addresses, meeting rooms, room capacities and calendars, and external-partner meeting venues.

The complaint also describes an AI chatbot account associated with his spouse that shared installation identifiers, logged IP usage, and user-path references with Alfozan's account. Between September 24 and 30, it submitted prompts about building and modifying an audio-recording device.

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The prompts allegedly included questions related to recording reliability, how to add browser access and controls, how to develop a second unit with speech-triggered recording, and more.

On October 5, the day Alfozan was allegedly recorded looking behind the executive conference room TV, company representatives say he left a bag unattended in the office's printer room.

Security staff inspected the bag, finding a wallet, an ID card, and a second Seeed-manufactured recording device, before Alfozan reported the bag missing, according to the DoJ. 

He collected the bag the following day from the company's Lost and Found, and later claimed in a written report that several items were missing, including a credit card, around $500 in cash, two AirPods, one set of headphones, sunglasses, and a power bank.

Alfozan was charged with an attempt to intercept oral communications, an offense that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

"According to the complaint unsealed today, Abdulrahman Alfozan allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer's executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company's super intelligence technology," said FBI director Kash Patel.

"Protecting American SI innovation is essential to safeguarding our nation's economic strength and national security, and the FBI views that mission as one of our highest counterintelligence priorities."

"At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data," OpenAI said in a statement. "The employee was terminated."

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"We take protecting our technology, data, and people seriously, and as a matter of national importance. Our security program is designed to protect against a wide range of threat actors, from insider risks to cybercriminals to nation states, and this case is an example of how AI can help address these sophisticated security threats." ®