FBI 称涉嫌窃密的 OpenAI 前工程师存有“沙特政府文件”文件夹，美方担忧其协助潜逃

由于 Alfozan 极有可能“缺乏留在美国配合审理此案的意愿”，检方律师 Missakian 请求法院下令在审前对其予以拘押。

“尽管 FBI 特工在逮捕被告时查获了他的沙特护照，但一旦他被释放，没有任何措施能阻止他获取必要的旅行证件并逃离美国——无论是否有外国政府协助。而在以往类似案件中，曾有外国政府协助其公民离境的情况，”Missakian 在提交给法院的诉状中指出。

据 Business Insider 报道，在周一的听证会上，联邦地方法院治安法官 Alex G. Tse 认同了检方观点，裁定 Alfozan 在准备辩护期间必须继续处于拘押状态。

Alfozan 被指控的潜逃计划

Alfozan 被捕时正与家人居住在加利福尼亚州。自 2009 年移居美国以来，他先后获得了麻省理工学院（MIT）和加州大学伯克利分校（UC Berkeley）的技术学位。美国政府的法庭文件显示，在硅谷工作了十多年后，OpenAI 最终“于 2025 年 7 月左右聘用他为工程师，年薪基本工资为 325,000 美元”。此外，他还获得了“价值 2,200,000 美元的利润分享单位作为新员工股权授予”。

指控称，Alfozan 针对 OpenAI 的图谋在其入职后的数月内便已展开。当时 OpenAI 尚未察觉任何异常，正准备批准 Alfozan 的育儿假申请。美国检方文件指出，由于其妻子的学生签证已经到期，他原计划利用两个月的带薪休假，护送妻子和幼子永久迁回沙特阿拉伯。

然而，他最终未能登上航班。在原定起飞前约两周，OpenAI 在一间会议室内发现了一个隐藏的录音设备。美国法庭文件证实，该设备已在室内放置了“至少数天”，且在一场与美国政府官员举行的绝密会议期间始终处于开启状态。

“在该设备被安装前后的几天里，OpenAI 高管正是该会议室内与政府官员举行了会晤，”文件写道，“被告的行为可能对美国的国家安全构成严重威胁。”

Because Alfozan would presumably have “little incentive to remain in the United States to see this case through,” Missakian asked the court to order his detention pending trial.

“Although FBI agents seized the defendant’s Saudi passport when they arrested him, there is nothing to stop the defendant, if he is released, from obtaining any necessary travel documents and fleeing the United States—with or without the help of a foreign government that has previously assisted its citizens depart the United States under similar circumstances,” Missakian’s filing argued.

On Monday, Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse agreed at a hearing that Alfozan should remain detained while mounting his defense, Business Insider reported.

Alfozan’s alleged escape plan

When Alfozan was arrested, he was living at home with his family in California. Since moving to the US in 2009, he’d received technical degrees from MIT and UC Berkeley. After more than a decade working in Silicon Valley, OpenAI eventually hired him “as an engineer in or around July 2025 with an annual base salary of $325,000,” the government’s court filing said. He also got “a new hire equity grant of $2,200,000 in profit participation units.”

Allegedly, Alfozan’s scheming against OpenAI started in the months after his hiring. Without detecting anything was amiss, OpenAI was preparing to grant Alfozan parental leave. His wife’s student visa had expired, and he planned to use his two months of paid time off to help her permanently move back to Saudi Arabia with their baby, the US filing said.

But he didn’t make the flight. About two weeks prior to the booking, OpenAI found a recording device hidden in a conference room. That device, the US court filing confirmed, was there for “at least multiple days” and had been in place during a top-secret meeting with US government officials.

“In the days surrounding the time period that the device was installed, OpenAI executives met with government officials in that very room,” the filing said. “Defendant’s conduct could pose a danger to the national security of the United States.”