The 64-year-old John Harold Rogers was convicted in February for making false statements to investigators after denying he had disclosed confidential information regarding Federal Reserve monetary policy, according to a statement by US Attorney Jeanine Pirro. However, the court acquitted him of the more serious charge of conspiracy to commit economic espionage.
"John Rogers spent years secretly funneling sensitive Federal Reserve information to Chinese spies. He then lied to investigators and later repeated his lies before the court, under oath," Pirro said.
The case was heard during a period in which the Trump administration has intensified its efforts to address incidents of alleged economic espionage by China.
Federal Judge Dabney Friedrich imposed a prison sentence of over three years on Rogers, as well as an additional 12 months of supervised release following his release from prison. Defense attorneys had requested that he not be given additional detention time beyond the approximately 18 months he had already remained in pre-trial detention, a period that will be credited towards the final sentence.
Secret cooperation with Xumin Li
Rogers, a US citizen holding a PhD in Economics, worked from 2010 to 2021 as a senior advisor in the international finance division of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. As part of his duties, he had access to non-public documents and information regarding US monetary policy, as well as meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee(FOMC).
According to prosecutors, early access to Federal Reserve decisions regarding interest rates could offer Beijing the opportunity to reap massive financial benefits through transactions in US Treasury bonds, totaling approximately $1.5 trillion.
The authorities allege that Rogers developed secret cooperation starting in 2017 with Xumin Li, an alleged agent of Chinese intelligence services, whom he met at a conference in China. During his visits to the country, he allegedly delivered confidential Federal Reserve information in meetings held in hotel rooms, under the pretext of teaching academic courses.
Prosecutors further allege that before his trips to China, he printed confidential documents, removed classification markings, and sent them to his personal email account. He then allegedly forwarded sensitive information to a professor at Fudan University. In exchange, according to the indictment, he received university teaching positions and financial benefits.
In February 2020, during an interview with the inspector general, Rogers was asked directly if he had ever shared restricted Federal Reserve information outside of the Board. He answered categorically: "Never," according to the US Department of Justice.
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