Ex-OpenAI engineer accused of bugging an executive conference room appears to have Saudi backing, prosecutors say

US prosecutors said in a court filing that Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, the former OpenAI engineer charged with hiding a recording device in an executive conference room at the company's San Francisco offices, kept up frequent contact with a member of the Saudi royal family, that a Saudi military member paid for a one-way ticket for his wife and son to fly home, and that he was 'mere days' from leaving for Saudi Arabia when he was arrested. At a hearing Monday, a federal judge ordered him held without bail, calling the Saudi government's offer to secure his release a 'blank check' and citing a significant risk that he would flee.