The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is considering whether to bring an economic espionage charge against Abdulrahman Al-Fawzan, a former Saudi engineer at OpenAI, over suspicions that he attempted to transfer confidential information from the company, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The newspaper quoted a law enforcement official on Saturday as saying investigators are examining whether Al-Fawzan attempted to steal information from the company with the intention of eventually providing it to the Saudi government, even without direct instructions from Riyadh.
Investigators are also considering whether to charge him with trade secret theft, the report said, adding that the investigation could conclude without any additional charges.
Allegations of Secret Recording at OpenAI Headquarters
U.S. authorities arrested Al-Fawzan, 35, on October 9 and charged him with attempting to eavesdrop on conversations inside the company’s San Francisco headquarters.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, investigators suspect that Al-Fawzan concealed a small recording device behind a television in an executive meeting room where highly confidential technical, commercial and strategic information was discussed.
The department said company employees discovered the device on September 30. The security team later found a similar recording device inside a bag belonging to the defendant.
If convicted of the charges against him, Al-Fawzan could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Communications With a Member of the Saudi Royal Family
The Wall Street Journal reported that prosecutors identified repeated communications via WhatsApp, owned by Meta, between Al-Fawzan and a member of the Saudi royal family during 2025 and 2026.
According to court documents cited by U.S. media outlets on October 19, the Saudi individual had attempted to recruit Al-Fawzan for an artificial intelligence initiative in the kingdom.
The defendant also purchased one-way tickets from San Francisco to Saudi Arabia for himself, his wife and their three-month-old child before his arrest.
A U.S. court denied his release on bail over concerns that he might flee. His lawyer has maintained that Al-Fawzan intends to challenge the allegations in court.
OpenAI Says No Unauthorized Access to Technical Secrets Detected
OpenAI said it had found no evidence that the defendant had improperly accessed its AI model weights, source code or customer data.
Al-Fawzan is scheduled to appear in court again on November 6. However, according to the report, U.S. authorities have not yet formally charged him with economic espionage.
