A former Federal Reserve senior adviser has been sentenced to 38 months in federal prison for making false statements to investigators about sharing restricted information with Chinese intelligence operatives.
John Harold Rogers, 64, was found guilty of making false statements to government investigators at the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Rogers worked as a Senior Adviser in the Federal Reserve Board of Governors' Division of International Finance from 2010 until his retirement in 2021. He had access to highly sensitive, non-public information, including proprietary economic data sets and critical insights into upcoming Federal Open Market Committee decisions and interest rate moves.
Prosecutors alleged that beginning as early as 2018, Rogers passed this information to co-conspirators tied to the People's Republic of China's intelligence and security apparatus. These individuals posed as graduate students at a PRC university and allegedly lured Rogers with gifts and a lucrative part-time "professor" position at Fudan University in Shanghai.
The stolen data could have allowed China to manipulate U.S. markets in a manner similar to insider trading, giving Beijing a massive advantage in buying or selling U.S. bonds and securities with advance knowledge of Fed policy shifts.
During the trial in February 2026, jurors declined to convict Rogers on the more serious economic espionage conspiracy count. However, they found beyond a reasonable doubt that Rogers lied when questioned by federal investigators, falsely denying that he had shared restricted Federal Reserve information outside the institution.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich emphasized Rogers' deliberate efforts to conceal his conduct, including using personal email accounts and taking steps to hide his communications. Rogers maintained he never knowingly worked for Chinese intelligence and insisted he had been manipulated, but the court concluded his false statements warranted a significant prison sentence.
In addition to the 38-month prison sentence, Judge Friedrich ordered Rogers to serve 12 months of supervised release. Federal prosecutors had requested a 60-month prison term.
The sentencing sends a clear message that those who mislead and obstruct federal agents will be brought to justice, said Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Rogers, a U.S. citizen who holds a Ph.D. in economics, served for decades as a Senior Advisor at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. He had access to restricted, nonpublic information about monetary policy and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) from 2010 until 2021.
The case highlights the risks of economic espionage and the importance of protecting sensitive information. Rogers' actions compromised the security of the financial system and put the country's economic and national security at risk.
Rogers' sentencing underscores the shared commitment of the FBI and the Federal Reserve Board Office of Inspector General to pursue anyone who endangers U.S. economic and national security by passing confidential information to an adversarial government, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel Wierzbicki of the Washington Field Office's Counterintelligence and Cyber Division.
