01.02.2025 14:32
A former advisor to the U.S. Federal Reserve has been arrested on charges of stealing trade secrets for the benefit of China. John Harold Rogers is accused of sharing confidential information by making false statements to the Fed.
A former senior advisor to the Federal Reserve (Fed) has been reported to have been arrested on charges of stealing trade secrets for the benefit of China. The U.S. Department of Justice made a statement regarding the matter. The statement noted that John Harold Rogers, a former senior advisor to the Fed Board, was arrested for conspiring to steal trade secrets for the benefit of China. It was reported that as part of the conspiracy, Rogers made false statements to the Fed, and these statements were claimed to have a significant impact on the ongoing investigation.
HE WAS A SENIOR ADVISOR
The statement alleged that Rogers, a U.S. citizen with a Ph.D. in economics, served as a senior advisor at the Fed from 2010 to 2021, and shared confidential information with Chinese collaborators who worked for Chinese intelligence and security agencies and posed as graduate students at a university in China. The statement pointed out that China holds a large amount of U.S. foreign debt, emphasizing that the data shared by Rogers with his accomplices could enable China to manipulate the U.S. market. It was noted that having prior knowledge about U.S. economic policy, including changes in the policy interest rate, could provide China with an advantage when buying or selling U.S. bonds and securities.
IT WAS ALLEGED THAT HE SHARED CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION UNDER THE GUISE OF "TEACHING"
The statement claimed that Rogers had been taking advantage of his position at the Fed at least since 2018, transferring this information to his personal email account electronically in violation of Fed policies or printing it out in preparation for meetings with his accomplices before traveling to China. The statement expressed that the former advisor shared sensitive, trade secret information belonging to the Fed by meeting with his accomplices in hotel rooms in China under the guise of "teaching."
HE WAS ALSO CHARGED WITH FALSE STATEMENTS
The statement indicated that Rogers was paid approximately $450,000 for working as a part-time professor at a Chinese university in 2023, and that the former advisor lied during the investigation in February 2020 about his access to sensitive information, the transfer of this information, and his relationships with accomplices. The statement noted that Rogers was charged with conspiracy to commit economic espionage and making false statements, reminding that conspiracy to commit economic espionage could result in a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $5 million fine, while making false statements could lead to a maximum of 5 years in prison.