Lawyer of arrested OpenAI engineer says allegations are ‘wholly out of character,’ one-way ticket to Saudi Arabia with wife and child was pre-booked

William Pernik, the lawyer for Abdulrahman Alfozan, a former OpenAI employee accused of installing a recording device in the company's San Francisco headquarters, asserts that the allegations against his client are "wholly out of character." Alfozan, a Saudi national and legal permanent resident in the U.S. since 2020, is set to fly to Saudi Arabia with his wife and child on a prepaid one-way flight on October 12.

According to Pernik, the flight was booked in advance, and Alfozan was "surprised by the search and arrest." The FBI accuses Alfozan of planting the recording device on September 28, following a month-long planning on ChatGPT and an internal AI tool. However, Pernik claims that Alfozan was not charged with leaking any information but rather with violating a federal recording statute.

Despite the focus on his Saudi nationality, Pernik urges the public not to jump to conclusions based on his client's national origin, emphasizing his long history of living, studying, and raising his family in the U.S. like millions of other immigrants. Alfozan worked at various tech companies, including internships at SAP and Microsoft, and Meta, before joining OpenAI in July 2025.

He also became a partner at a Saudi-based venture capital firm, RAED Ventures, in 2025. OpenAI terminated Alfozan's employment on October 9, the same day he was arrested by the FBI.