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SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — Daniel Moreno-Gama, the man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and threatening to burn down the company headquarters, appeared in federal court for the first time Friday as Department of Justice attorneys have brought new charges against him.
A 20-year-old from Houston, Moreno-Gama is now facing a slew of charges, including federal charges for attempted damage and destruction of property by means of explosives and for possession of an unregistered firearm.
If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of 20 years on the property destruction charge. He also faces up to 10 years on the possession charge.
In addition, Moreno-Gama faces eight state charges in connection with the attack on Altman’s house. Those include two counts of attempted murder, attempted arson and possession of an incendiary device.
State prosecutors have also charged him with attempted criminal threats, possession of a flammable or combustible substance and attempted arson of an occupied building in connection with what authorities say was a planned attack on OpenAI’s headquarters.
Wearing an orange sweatsuit, Moreno-Gama made his appearance before Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson. He was joined by his federal public defender, Jodi Linker. Moreno-Gama did not speak except to state his name and age and affirm that he understood the nature of the charges against him.
Assistant U.S. District Attorney Alexis James also attended the hearing.
The government requested that Moreno-Gama be detained, arguing he was a danger to the community and a flight risk. Linker said that although she would normally seek release, she would not in this case since Moreno-Gama was already in detention. Nonetheless, she stressed she reserved the right to seek release in the future.
Hixson remanded Moreno-Gama to the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service and scheduled a preliminary hearing for May 12.
Following the hearing, Linker told Courthouse News she was “glad nobody was injured."
As with all of our clients, our goal is to ensure a fair and equitable resolution of this matter for Daniel," she added.
James declined to comment.
Federal prosecutors say Moreno-Gama traveled from Texas to San Francisco with the intention of killing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. They say Moreno-Gama threw a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s home in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco around 3:30 a.m. on April 10, causing a fire at the top of a driveway gate.
Afterward, prosecutors claim Moreno-Gama traveled around three miles to OpenAI’s headquarters, where they say he attempted to break into the building with a chair. They say he threatened to burn the building down and kill those inside. He was then arrested by San Francisco police.
The incidents at Altman’s house and OpenAI were captured on surveillance footage.
According to a federal criminal complaint, police found Moreno-Gama in possession of incendiary devices, a jug of kerosene, a blue lighter and a document, seemingly written by Moreno-Gama, advocating against artificial intelligence and the executives of AI companies, including Altman.
According to federal prosecutors, Moreno-Gama writes in the document that he had killed or attempted to kill Altman. They say it also lists the names and addresses of board members, CEOs and investors of other AI companies.
In the document, authorities say Moreno-Gama also shares his views on the risks AI poses to humanity. At one point, they say he addresses Altman directly, stating: “If by some miracle you live, then I would take this as a sign from the divine to redeem yourself."
In a press release announcing the charges, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Moreno-Gama’s actions would be aggressively prosecuted.
“Violence cannot be the norm for expressing disagreement, be it with politics or a technology or any other matter,” he said.
Moreno-Gama appeared in San Francisco Superior Court on April 14, where asked a judge to delay his arraignment. He will be arraigned on state charges on Tuesday, May 5.
Outside the courtroom on Friday, Diamond Ward, deputy public defender at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, characterized Moreno-Gama as a “young man with a history of autism and mental health illness.” She said his actions appeared to be motivated by an “acute mental health crisis.”
But San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has dismissed that idea, saying there was no evidence that Moreno-Gama was suffering from mental health issues.
“At this point in time, I see somebody who understood what he believed his mission to be and sought diligently to carry out that mission,” she said.
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