OpenAI engineer charged with planting recorder in executive conference room

The US Department of Justice charged OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, with attempting to intercept oral communications after a Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense recorder was allegedly found hidden in a TV in the company's executive conference room. A second device was found in his bag; he was fired and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

• The recorder was found on September 30 concealed in toilet paper
• A second recording device was found in Alfozan's bag on October 5
• Forensics could not extract data from the microSD card, possibly encrypted
• Alfozan joined OpenAI in July 2025 and was arrested on October 9