Abstract:
According to the Wall Street Journal, a U.S. law enforcement official said that the FBI is considering an additional economic espionage charge against former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan. Alfozan is facing eavesdropping charges for secretly installing a listening device in a restricted-access conference room.
Alfzan is suspected of installing eavesdropping devices
The official said the investigation centers on whether Alfzan stole information from OpenAI to provide to the Saudi government, even though he was not recruited to do so.
The law enforcement official said that in addition to suspicions involving economic espionage, the ongoing U.S. government investigation is also investigating whether Alfzan committed crimes such as stealing trade secrets. It's also possible the investigation will not result in any additional charges, the official said.
Alfzan's attorney, William Pernik, said he has not received any information from the U.S. government about possible additional charges. He said: "We have made it very clear that Mr. Alfozan will fight these allegations and claims in court, not in the media."
The fact that the FBI is exploring economic espionage charges does not necessarily mean that the U.S. government will accuse Alfzan of acting at the direction of the Saudi government. Instead, the charges may be based on claims that Alfzan planned to later peddle the information he allegedly collected to Saudi Arabia.
As of press time, both the Saudi Embassy in Washington and OpenAI declined to comment.
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