Former Fed advisor gets 38 months for lying about ties to China
by Lisa Hornung · UPIJuly 16 (UPI) -- An economist who advised the U.S. Federal Reserve was sentenced to 38 months in prison for lying to investigators about sharing sensitive economic information with Chinese spies, the Justice Department announced.
John Harold Rogers, 64, of Vienna, Va., was acquitted in February of charges that he had allegedly leaked economic forecasts and internal documents to Chinese intelligence officers. But he was convicted of making false statements to investigators. He had denied allegations to investigators from the Federal Reserve Office of Inspector General in a 2020 interview.
"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," U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia alleged in a statement. "Federal Reserve employees entrusted with America's most sensitive economic information cannot sell out their country and their colleagues for personal gain and then expect to hide behind a single word."
Prosecutors allege that Rogers met Hummin Lee, a Chinese intelligence agent, at a 2017 conference in China and later met with Lee under the guise of teaching university classes. They allege that the information given to Lee could give China an advantage by sharing Fed interest rate changes before they went public.
Prosecutors said Lee gave Rogers assignments via the Chinese messaging app WeChat, on which they also planned to meet in hotel rooms in Shanghai.
Prosecutors also allege that Rogers removed security markings on documents before emailing them to his personal account.
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is sworn in at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be attorney general at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Blanche has served as acting attorney general since April, when former Attorney General Pam Bondi was fired. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo