When a foreign government volunteers to bankroll your release from federal custody, it may be time to reconsider the "no ties to a foreign state" defense.
On Monday, a San Francisco federal magistrate ordered Abdulrahman Alfozan, the 35-year-old Saudi national accused of bugging an executive conference room at OpenAI's headquarters, detained without bail pending trial, saying there is a "significant" risk he would flee. The ruling came after Judge Alex Tse grilled the defense over an offer by the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles to pay Alfozan's full bail, which CNBC reports that the judge called "problematic".
In other words, the Kingdom offered to post bail for the man accused of bugging the room where OpenAI meets government officials, and the judge decided that was not, in fact, reassuring.
But, there's a lot more going on here...
"Problematic"
Alfozan's lawyer, William Pernik, had asked for release on home detention with GPS monitoring and a co-signed bond, backed by a written undertaking from the Saudi Consulate General. In court, the defense said Alfozan would also put up $1 million in assets on top of the consulate's offer. The defense package also came with dozens of support letters and a
