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The_Info_Web/70 - DISPATCHES/2026-10-13 Its Special Operations Section.md

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Its Special Operations Section 2026-10-13 published The OpenAI engineer charged with bugging an executive conference room shared a Saudi venture firm's partner roster with a prince whose father served in Saudi intelligence and whose uncle ran the national space agency.
Abdulrahman Alfozan
OpenAI
RAED Ventures
Khalid bin Bader Al Saud
Bader bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud
Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud
General Intelligence Presidency
Echelon (company)
East40 Holding
Ben Horowitz
Andreessen Horowitz
OpenAI
SaudiArabia
GeneralIntelligencePresidency
Counterintelligence

Its Special Operations Section

On October 13, 2026 the Justice Department announced that Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national employed as an engineer by OpenAI since July 2025, had been arrested on October 9 and charged under 18 U.S.C. § 2511(1)(b). According to the complaint, OpenAI found a recording device on September 30 in a USB port behind the television of an executive conference room, where meetings covered "government engagements, and commercial relationships." The release states that a complaint merely alleges that crimes have been committed and that the defendant is presumed innocent.12

On February 6, 2025 RAED Ventures of Riyadh announced "H.H. Prince Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud" (Khalid bin Bader Al Saud) as a venture partner. On February 8 it announced Alfozan, then a founding engineer at Nash (company), as another.34 The firm's team page, captured on October 13, 2026, lists both men as venture partners.5

The UK register records the prince as "Khalid Bin Bader Bin Saud Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz AL SAUD," born September 1994: Khalid, son of Bader, son of Saud, son of Mohammed.6 Arab News wrote on September 23, 2019 that Brig. Gen. Prince Bader bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud, then assistant commander of the special forces guarding the Grand Mosque, had served with the Riyadh police "before being posted to the Saudi General Intelligence agency to join its special operations section."7 The agency is the General Intelligence Presidency. Scott Stedman reported the father's identity on October 13, 2026.8

Al-Jazirah's biography of Saud bin Mohammed bin Abdulaziz, published on January 22, 2016, lists among his sons "Prince Dr. Turki, president of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology" and "Prince Dr. Colonel Paratrooper (Badr)," then of the special force of the Grand Mosque.9 Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud ran the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, the kingdom's science and space agency, from 2015 to 2021, and a royal order of December 27, 2018 made him an adviser to the Saudi Royal Court with the rank of minister.10 Since 2024 he has been the person with significant control, holding 75 percent or more, of three UK companies: Pulsed Fusion Energy, European Launch System and Solid Orbit. The register records his appointment as their director on August 13, 2026.11

Khalid founded Echelon (company), a Riyadh artificial intelligence company. Its founder's letter of October 2026 says its technology unit is "focused on Energy, Industrials, Government, Telco, Defence" and announces Echelon Defense Industries for 2027, "to help the Kingdom build sovereign defence capability."12 On October 7 and 8, 2026, two and one days before Alfozan's arrest, Wamda and Dealroom reported an undisclosed round for Echelon from East40 Holding, RAED Ventures and Avra, "alongside Ben Horowitz and other investors."13 Ben Horowitz is a co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. Andreessen Horowitz led the 2021 seed round and the July 2022 Series A of Nash.14

  1. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Saudi National Arrested for Installing Surreptitious Audio Recording Device at OpenAI," October 13, 2026, press release 26-1173, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/saudi-national-arrested-installing-surreptitious-audio-recording-device-openai. ↩︎

  2. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California, "Saudi National Arrested for Installing Surreptitious Audio Recording Device at OpenAI," October 13, 2026, https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/saudi-national-arrested-installing-surreptitious-audio-recording-device-openai-san. ↩︎

  3. RAED Ventures, "Raed Ventures Welcomes New Venture Partner, H.H. Prince Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud," February 6, 2025, https://raed.vc/news/raed-ventures-welcomes-new-venture-partner-h-h-prince-khalid-bin-bader-al-saud/ (Wayback capture of March 23, 2025, https://web.archive.org/web/20250323020859/https://raed.vc/news/raed-ventures-welcomes-new-venture-partner-h-h-prince-khalid-bin-bader-al-saud/). ↩︎

  4. RAED Ventures, "Raed Ventures Welcomes New Venture Partner, Abdulrahman Alfozan," February 8, 2025, https://raed.vc/news/raed-ventures-welcomes-new-venture-partner-abdulrahman-alfozan/ (Wayback capture of March 23, 2025, https://web.archive.org/web/20250323022105/https://raed.vc/news/raed-ventures-welcomes-new-venture-partner-abdulrahman-alfozan/). ↩︎

  5. RAED Ventures, "Our team," https://raed.vc/, archived October 13, 2026, https://web.archive.org/web/20261013212530/https://raed.vc/. ↩︎

  6. UK Companies House, personal appointments of "Khalid Bin Bader Bin Saud Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz AL SAUD," https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/qEEjrdlLsxBzKgtrPk3zXU_hYPc/appointments. ↩︎

  7. Arab News, "Brig. Gen. Prince Bader bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud, assistant commander for special forces security at Makkah's Grand Mosque," September 23, 2019, https://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/brig-gen-prince-bader-bin-saud-bin-mohammed-al-saud-assistant-commander-for-special-forces-security-at-makkahs-grand-mosque-1558696. ↩︎

  8. Scott Stedman, post on X, October 13, 2026, https://x.com/ScottMStedman/status/2110106692914696402. ↩︎

  9. Al-Jazirah, "Saud bin Mohammed: journey and history," January 22, 2016, https://www.al-jazirah.com/2016/20160122/wa1.htm (Arabic). ↩︎

  10. International Astronautical Federation, biography of Turki Bin Saud Bin Mohammad Al Saud, https://www.iafastro.org/biographie/turki-bin-saud-bin-mohammad-al-saud.html; Arab News, "Who's Who: Dr. Munir bin Mahmoud El-Desouki, president of King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology," April 21, 2021, https://www.arabnews.com/node/1846711/saudi-arabia; Al Bayan, "Royal orders," December 27, 2018, https://www.albayan.ae/one-world/arabs/2018-12-27-1.3444982 (Arabic), and the Saudi Press Agency text, https://x.com/spagov/status/1078273878621896704. ↩︎

  11. UK Companies House: PULSED FUSION ENERGY LTD. (15717442), EUROPEAN LAUNCH SYSTEM LTD (15727737) and SOLID ORBIT LTD (15755615), officers and persons with significant control, https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15717442, /15727737 and /15755615. ↩︎

  12. Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud, "Introducing Echelon," founder's letter, Riyadh, October 2026, https://www.echelon.inc/ and https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/introducing-echelon-khalid-bin-bader-al-saud-oycuc/. ↩︎

  13. Wamda, "Saudi AI startup Echelon secures backing from East40, RAED Ventures and Avra," October 7, 2026 (Arabic edition), archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261013214422/https://www.wamda.com/2026/10/saudi-ai-startup-echelon-secures-backing-east40-raed-ventures-avra-arabic; Dealroom, "Saudi AI company Echelon launches with backing from Ben Horowitz, Avra and others," October 8, 2026, https://dealroom.co/news/160932-saudi-ai-company-echelon-launches-with-backing-from-ben-horowitz-avra-an/. ↩︎

  14. Andreessen Horowitz, "Investing in Nash," July 26, 2022, https://a16z.com/announcement/investing-in-nash/; TechCrunch, "Nash raises cash to help merchants manage local deliveries," July 26, 2022, https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/26/nash-raises-cash-to-help-merchants-manage-local-deliveries/. ↩︎