John Harold Rogers, a former senior adviser for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, was sentenced to 38 months in prison for lying to federal investigators about sharing confidential monetary policy data with Chinese intelligence operatives. According to reports from the Justice Department, Rogers was convicted at trial on February 3 of making false statements to investigators. He was acquitted on a charge of conspiracy to commit economic espionage, though prosecutors had sought a five-year sentence. US District Judge Dabney Friederich imposed the sentence, with prison officials crediting the nearly 18 months Rogers already served in custody toward his total sentence. As reported by Washington US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, Rogers deliberately lied to conceal sharing restricted non-public Federal Reserve information with intelligence agents working for China.
As reported by the Justice Department, Rogers allegedly provided restricted Federal Reserve information to Chinese intelligence agents from 2018 onwards. Prosecutors claimed Rogers knew that China could use advance knowledge of Federal Reserve interest rate decisions to generate enormous profits trading its roughly $1.5 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. In return, Rogers received substantial financial benefits and assistance with professorships at Chinese universities, including approximately $450,000 in 2023 as a part-time professor. According to the indictment, Rogers knew this operative was writing reports for the Chinese government using the information he provided.
According to the indictment, Rogers began responding to information requests from co-conspirators who posed as graduate students but actually worked with China's intelligence and security apparatus in 2018. As reported by prosecutors, Rogers developed a clandestine relationship with a Chinese intelligence operative in 2017 and later met with her and associates in Chinese hotel rooms to pass Fed information. The conspiracy allegedly lasted from May 2013 until 2025, with Rogers attempting to obtain emailed copies of two spreadsheets with proprietary Fed information in August 2023. Prosecutors said that when the Fed's Office of Inspector General interviewed Rogers in February 2020 and asked him if he ever shared restricted information, he said: "Never."
The Rogers case highlights significant vulnerabilities in US national security and economic stability, particularly regarding Chinese espionage targeting economic policy. The Chinese government's efforts to acquire sensitive information on US economic policy and national security have been ongoing for years, with numerous instances of Chinese hackers and intelligence agents infiltrating US research facilities, universities, and government agencies. The case serves as a warning to other US institutions and individuals who may be vulnerable to Chinese espionage, particularly in the realm of economic policy and Treasury securities trading. Michael E. Horowitz, inspector general for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, stated that Rogers deliberately lied to conceal sharing restricted non-public Federal Reserve information with intelligence agents working for China.
Rogers, who holds a Ph.D. in economics, advised the Fed's Division of International Finance from 2010 to 2021. The Fed's international finance division, where Rogers worked until 2021, focuses on foreign economic activity and international financial markets. Defense lawyers asked for no further jail time beyond the nearly 18 months he already served in custody. Attorney Jonathan Gitlen expressed disappointment with the 38-month sentence, stating it was significantly higher than other defendants received in similar cases. Rogers, now 64 years old, was convicted for making false statements about sharing information on monetary policy, with prosecutors seeking a five-year sentence.
