Former Fed Adviser Convicted for Sharing Sensitive Information with Chinese Spy

A former senior advisor at the U.S. Federal Reserve has been convicted for leaking sensitive economic details to a Chinese spy.

John Harold Rogers, 64, from Vienna, Virginia, has been sentenced to 38 months in federal prison, along with an additional 12 months of supervised release, as announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. This follows his dishonesty with investigators regarding the information he shared.

Throughout his time at the Fed, he had access to confidential information about monetary policy, which, according to court documents, he was expected to handle with care.

Beginning in 2017, Rogers formed a covert relationship with Fumin Li, a Chinese intelligence officer, after meeting him at a conference in China. Over the following years, Rogers arranged meetings with Li and his associates in hotel rooms in China, disguising these encounters as academic “classes.” During these meetings, he provided Federal Reserve information that Li specifically requested.

Rogers went so far as to print out classified materials for his travels to China, removed the classification marks before emailing the documents to his personal account, and forwarded sensitive information to a professor at Fudan University—days before his meetings with Li. It’s clear he was compiling reports for the Chinese government based on the information that Li had given him, fully aware that this intel could be exploited for significant profits from the trading of U.S. Treasury securities.

For his actions, Rogers received considerable personal benefits, including a new spouse, a position at a university, and financial support from Lee University and a Chinese institution. He told investigators that he “owes everything” to Hamin Lee.

In early 2020, during an interview with investigators, when asked whether he had ever shared restricted information outside board meetings, Rogers allegedly responded, “Never.”

According to reports, this case brings to mind a previous situation involving Rep. Eric Swalwell and his connection with the Chinese spy Christine Huang, also known as “Fan Fan.”

On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro highlighted that Rogers’ sentence is one of the longest imposed for lying to federal investigators. “He sold out the country and other members of the Federal Reserve Board and hid behind lies,” she stated.

Historically, China has targeted the U.S. and its citizens through various means. In one instance from 2025, a dual citizen of the U.S. and China admitted to stealing missile tracking technology from a California firm.

Earlier in April, there was also a case where a federal judge revoked the U.S. citizenship of a Chinese couple who had initially arrived on H-1B visas after they were found guilty of stealing medical trade secrets for China.