WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal authorities have arrested John Harold Rogers, 63, a former senior adviser at the Federal Reserve, for allegedly providing classified economic information to Chinese intelligence officials. A grand jury indictment charges Rogers with stealing Federal Reserve trade secrets and selling them to Chinese operatives for at least $450,000.
The indictment accuses Rogers of posing as a university professor in China to further the illicit transactions. He is also charged with lying to investigators from both the Federal Reserve and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The Department of Justice announced Rogers’ arrest on Friday, the same day he appeared in a Washington courtroom. He is being held without bond and will be arraigned on Tuesday, according to court documents.
Jonathan Gitlen, Rogers’ attorney, released a statement Saturday denying the allegations, adding that Rogers will provide further clarification at a later date.
According to Kevin Vorndran, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, Rogers “betrayed his country” by supplying restricted U.S. financial and economic information to Chinese intelligence agents. Vorndran stated that the stolen data “could allow China to manipulate the U.S. market,” potentially giving Chinese financial players an unfair advantage in dealings with U.S. debt instruments, including advance notice of federal funds rate changes.
The indictment reveals that Rogers worked at the Federal Reserve from 2010 to 2021 in the Division of International Finance, where he had access to highly classified information. Prosecutors allege that Rogers began communicating with two Chinese co-conspirators as early as 2013. He is accused of transmitting sensitive economic data, including briefing books for Federal Reserve governors, tariff details, and internal Federal Open Market Committee deliberations to his personal email or printing copies to hand off to his co-conspirators.
The indictment also claims that Rogers visited China multiple times under the guise of a part-time professor, where he allegedly received $450,000 for his “teaching” position at a Chinese university in 2023.
