A former senior adviser to the Federal Reserve was handed a 38-month federal prison sentence Thursday for making false statements about funneling sensitive central bank information to Chinese intelligence operatives, the Justice Department announced.
John Harold Rogers, 64, was convicted in February on charges of lying to investigators, after being acquitted of the more serious charge of conspiracy to commit economic espionage. The split verdict followed a two-week trial in which prosecutors argued Rogers had secretly passed restricted economic forecasts and internal documents to Chinese agents over several years.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro condemned Rogers' actions in a statement, saying: “John Rogers spent years secretly funneling sensitive Federal Reserve information to Chinese spies, then looked investigators in the eye and lied about it. And when that wasn’t enough, he lied again under oath at trial.”
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich emphasized the gravity of the offense, noting Rogers' senior position at the Fed and describing a “pattern of sharing” restricted data with China. “This is far from the ordinary false-statement case,” Friedrich said, pointing to “overwhelming evidence” of his guilt.
According to court records, Rogers first met Chinese intelligence operative Hummin Lee at a 2017 conference in China. He subsequently maintained contact with Lee and his associates during trips to China, often under the pretext of teaching university courses. Prosecutors alleged that the information Rogers provided—including details on Federal Reserve interest rate decisions before public release—could have given Beijing a strategic economic edge.
Authorities said the exchanges were coordinated through the Chinese messaging app WeChat, where Lee requested that Rogers collect specific Fed documents and meet in Shanghai hotel rooms. Rogers allegedly printed confidential materials before traveling abroad, removing security markings and emailing them to his personal account.
Rogers' deception extended beyond the initial investigation. He denied the allegations during a 2020 interview with the Fed’s Office of Inspector General and later repeated those falsehoods under oath at trial. In addition to the prison term, Friedrich ordered Rogers to serve 12 months of supervised release.
The case underscores ongoing concerns about Chinese espionage targeting U.S. economic institutions. It also echoes broader scrutiny of foreign influence, including warnings from lawmakers about China deploying AI 'digital twins' of every U.S. Congress member and the limits of U.S. export controls exposed by China's LineShine supercomputer.
While Rogers avoided the harshest possible sentence, the case marks a significant victory for federal prosecutors seeking to hold accountable those who compromise U.S. economic security. As debates over agency structure continue, the Rogers affair highlights the vulnerability of even the most trusted government institutions to infiltration.
