A former senior adviser to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors has been arrested and charged with espionage for conspiring with Chinese officials to pass along trade secrets, according to newly unsealed federal court filings.
John Harold Rogers, 63, of Vienna, Virginia, once a trusted figure within the Fed’s Board of Governors, allegedly collaborated with individuals in China to funnel confidential economic data and briefing materials, prosecutors claim.
According to the indictment, Rogers cultivated ties with operatives posing as graduate students from a Chinese university who were, in reality, intelligence and security officers for the People’s Republic of China.
“Under the guise of teaching classes,” Rogers would meet with co-conspirators in hotel rooms in China where he would convey secret information from the Federal Reserve, the indictment states.
He made “False statements to the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” according to a release.
He received approximately $450,000 in 2023 for his role as a part-time professor at a Chinese university, prosecutors allege.
“President Trump tasks us with protecting our fellow Americans from all enemies, foreign and domestic. As alleged in the indictment, this defendant leveraged his position within the Federal Reserve to pass sensitive financial information to the Chinese government, a designated adversary,” said U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. “Let this indictment serve as a warning to all who seek to betray or exploit the United States: law enforcement will find you and hold you accountable.”
Rogers’ involvement with Chinese operatives spanned roughly seven years, beginning in 2018 and continuing into early 2025, according to authorities. Federal officials believe he exploited access within the Fed’s Open Market Committee and provided economic data that could have major implications for U.S. monetary policy.
“The defendant violated the trust placed in him by the Federal Reserve Bank by putting U.S. trade secrets in the hands of his PRC co-conspirators, knowing full well that such information would benefit the PRC Government and PRC instrumentalities,” said Devin DeBacker, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Justice Department will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to disrupt economic espionage and protect our national security.”
Rogers is charged with conspiracy to commit economic espionage and with making false statements.
On Friday, Rogers made his initial appearance in a Washington, D.C., federal courtroom, where a judge ordered him detained for three days ahead of an arraignment and detention hearing scheduled for next week, as reported by CBS.
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