Formal Fed senior adviser John Rodgers was arrested Friday for allegedly leaking trade secrets to China. Washington DC’s district attorney revealed in a press release that Rodgers, 63, is charged with conspiring to steal Federal Reserve trade secrets for the benefit of the People’s Republic of China.
JUST IN:
Former Senior Adviser to the Federal Reserve John Rogers arrested for leaking trade secrets to China.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) January 31, 2025
The DA says the former Fed senior adviser allegedly made false statements to the Fed Board Office of Inspector General. Those false statements had a material impact on its investigation, the DA says. “The indictment, unsealed today, was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., FBI Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the Washington Field Office, and John T. Perez, Special Agent in Charge, Headquarters Operations, Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (FRB-CFPB OIG).”
U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. says that this arrest should be seen as a warning to other potential foreign conspirators of treason. “President Trump tasks us with protecting our fellow Americans from all enemies, foreign and domestic. As alleged in the indictment, this defendant leveraged his position within the Federal Reserve to pass sensitive financial information to the Chinese government, a designated foreign adversary,” he says. “Let this indictment serve as a warning to all who seek to betray or exploit the United States: law enforcement will find you and hold you accountable.”
“The Chinese Communist Party has expanded its economic espionage campaign to target U.S. government financial policies and trade secrets to undermine the U.S. and become the sole superpower,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg. “Today’s indictment represents the FBI’s unwavering commitment to protect U.S. national security interests and U.S. jobs and to bring to justice those who are willing to betray their country for personal gain.”
Also Read: BRICS Currency: Kremlin Says No Plans for a Common Currency
What the Indictment Alleges
Rogers worked as a Senior Adviser in the Division of International Finance of the FRB from 2010 until 2021. There, he was entrusted with confidential FRB information. The confidential information that Rogers allegedly shared with his Chinese co-conspirators, who worked for the intelligence and security apparatus of China and who posed as graduate students at a PRC university, is economically valuable when secret.
Furthermore, the indictment alleges that from at least 2018, Rogers allegedly exploited his employment with the FRB by soliciting trade-secret information regarding proprietary economic data sets, deliberations about tariffs targeting China, briefing books for designated governors, and sensitive information about Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) deliberations and forthcoming announcements. He passed that information electronically to his personal email, in violation of FRB policy in preparation for meetings with his co-conspirators. Under the guise of teaching “classes,” Rogers met with his co-conspirators in hotel rooms in China where he conveyed sensitive, trade-secret information that belonged to the FRB and the FOMC. In 2023, Rogers was paid approximately $450,000 as a part-time professor at a Chinese university.
Also Read: South Dakota Representative Proposes Bitcoin Reserve Bills
The former Fed senior adviser was arrested Friday afternoon. Rogers is charged with conspiracy to commit economic espionage and with making false statements. Conspiracy to commit economic espionage carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $5 million fine. The case remains under investigation.