In May 2026, a member of the Saudi royal family messaged Abdulrahman Alfozan stating that Saudi Arabia needed him more than the US, to which Alfozan agreed but noted he would stay until his $2.2 million OpenAI equity vested

From the articleSaudis Aided Family of Engineer Accused of Bugging OpenAI, Prosecutors SayAlso in Ex-OpenAI employee accused of planting device appeared to receive support from Saudi government: Prosecutors, US prosecutors allege Saudi royal links in OpenAI bugging case