WASHINGTON — A former high-ranking adviser at the U.S. Federal Reserve was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in federal prison after being convicted of lying to investigators about secretly sharing restricted central bank information with Chinese intelligence operatives, according to the Justice Department.
John Harold Rogers, 64, was taken into custody in early 2025 on charges that he conspired to steal Federal Reserve trade secrets for China’s benefit, prosecutors said at the time of his arrest.
During his trial, a federal jury spent two days deliberating before returning a guilty verdict on February 3. The jury found Rogers guilty of making false statements to investigators at the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Justice Department stated.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro did not mince words in describing the case. “John Rogers spent years secretly funneling sensitive Federal Reserve information to Chinese spies, then looked investigators in the eye and lied about it. And when that wasn’t enough, he lied again under oath at trial,” she said.
Beyond the prison term, Judge Dabney Friedrich also ordered Rogers to complete 12 months of supervised release following his incarceration. Federal prosecutors had pushed for a 60-month sentence, significantly longer than what the judge ultimately imposed.
Rogers served as a senior adviser in the Fed’s division of international finance from 2010 through 2021. According to prosecutors, during that time he passed confidential information to Chinese co-conspirators who worked within China’s intelligence and security apparatus while posing as graduate students.
When Rogers was arrested last year, China denied the allegations, stating that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of other nations.
The Federal Reserve’s international finance division handles research, policy analysis, and reporting on topics including foreign economic activity, U.S. trade and capital flows, and global financial market developments, according to the central bank’s website.
