“As alleged in the indictment, Rogers betrayed his country while employed at the Federal Reserve by providing restricted U.S. financial and economic information to Chinese government intelligence officers,” said Assistant Director Kevin Vorndran of the FBI Counterintelligence Division in an announcement of Rogers' indictment and arrest.
Former Federal Reserve adviser indicted and arrested for alleged espionage in dealings with China Federal authorities have arrested a former Federal Reserve senior adviser for allegedly giving inside economic information to China.
The Justice Department said the information “could allow China to manipulate the U.S. market ... in a manner to insider trading.” The department noted that China, as of October 2024, held about $816 billion in U.S. foreign debt and that Chinese financial players could benefit from inside knowledge of U.S. economic policy, such as advance notice of federal funds rate changes, when making decisions about buying and selling U.S. debt instruments.
The cache allegedly included proprietary economic data and analysis, briefing books written for Federal Reserve governors, details of Federal Open Market Committee deliberations and future announcements, and accounts of conversations about tariffs targeted at China, according to the indictment.
A grand jury indictment accuses John Harold Rogers, 63, of Vienna, Virginia, of stealing Federal Reserve trade secrets and selling them to Chinese intelligence officials for at least $450,000 by posing as a university professor in China.
