Federal authorities have arrested a former Federal Reserve senior adviser for allegedly giving inside financial data to China.
A grand jury indictment accuses John Harold Rogers, 63, of Vienna, Virginia, of stealing Federal Reserve commerce secrets and techniques and promoting them to Chinese language intelligence officers for at the very least $450,000 by posing as a college professor in China. He’s additionally accused of mendacity to Federal Reserve investigators and Client Monetary Safety Bureau officers.
The Division of Justice introduced Rogers’ indictment and arrest on Friday, the identical day he made his first look earlier than a Washington courtroom. Rogers is being held with out bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, in accordance with courtroom data.
“As alleged within the indictment, Rogers betrayed his nation whereas employed on the Federal Reserve by offering restricted U.S. monetary and financial data to Chinese language authorities intelligence officers,” stated Assistant Director Kevin Vorndran of the FBI Counterintelligence Division in an announcement of Rogers’ indictment and arrest.
“This data may enable adversaries to illegally achieve a strategic financial benefit on the expense of the U.S. This indictment sends a transparent message that the FBI and our companions will maintain accountable those that threaten our nationwide safety,” Vorndran stated.
A public defender listed in courtroom data as being assigned to Rogers’ case didn’t instantly reply Saturday to a request for remark.
The Justice Division stated the knowledge “may enable China to govern the U.S. market … in a fashion to insider buying and selling.” The division famous that China, as of October 2024, held about $816 billion in U.S. overseas debt and that Chinese language monetary gamers may gain advantage from inside data of U.S. financial coverage, corresponding to advance discover of federal funds charge modifications, when making selections about shopping for and promoting U.S. debt devices.
Rogers, a U.S. citizen with a doctorate in economics, labored for the Federal Reserve from 2010 till 2021, in accordance with the indictment.
In accordance with the indictment, Rogers, a U.S. citizen with a Ph.D. in economics, labored as a Senior Adviser in FRB’s Division of Worldwide Finance of the FRB from 2010 till 2021, the place he would have had entry to a spread of labeled data.
Prosecutors allege that Rogers and two Chinese language co-conspirators started speaking as early as 2013. The indictment asserts that Rogers later forwarded protected data to his private electronic mail or made print copies to move alongside to his co-conspirators. The cache allegedly included proprietary financial knowledge and evaluation, briefing books written for Federal Reserve governors, particulars of Federal Open Market Committee deliberations and future bulletins, and accounts of conversations about tariffs focused at China, in accordance with the indictment.
Rogers is accused of assembly co-conspirators in China for a number of visits, beneath the guise of him being a tutorial teacher educating them as college students. The indictment alleges that in 2023, Rogers acquired $450,000 as a part-time professor at a Chinese language college. ___