Ex–OpenAI engineer accused of bugging office stays in jail as prosecutors allege Saudi ties: ‘Once he leaves, there’s no getting him back’

A federal judge on Monday ordered a former OpenAI engineer accused of bugging an executive conference room to stay in jail , after questioning whether a $1 million bond the Saudi government offered to guarantee would bring him back if he fled.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, the 35-year-old former OpenAI engineer, appeared in court today wearing an orange jumpsuit and white face mask while escorted by two U.S. marshals.

He will remain in federal custody until his next court date, a preliminary hearing on Nov.

6.

He has been in jail since the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested him on Oct.

9, alleging he planted the device in a conference room where executives, and sometimes government officials, discussed sensitive information, on Sept.

28.

Magistrate Judge Alex G.

Tse said a $1 million bond had to be weighed against the possibility that Alfozan “potentially has access to much greater wealth.” “Once he leaves, there’s no getting him back, and that’s why this is a bigger case,” Tse said in the courtroom Monday morning.

OpenAI terminated Alfozan’s employment on Oct.

9, although Alfozan’s lawyer said Monday in court the company never formally told him that.

However, per his defense motion, he was told before his arrest that he had been placed on administrative leave.

Tse noted that OpenAI would not have fired him if it had no concern about what it found.

Fortune was in the San Francisco courtroom for the hearing, as were about 60 others, including a group of high school students who had come to witness a case involving one of the most prominent companies in the world.