Former senior adviser to the Federal Reserve (Fed) John Harold Rogers was accused by the United States of leaking Fed information to Chinese intelligence agents. In July this year, Rogers was sentenced to 38 months in prison for making false statements to federal investigators. Shen Rongqin, an associate professor at York University in Canada, shared the inside story of this case on Facebook, saying that this was the first time that Chinese intelligence agents had infiltrated the Federal Reserve. Even until he was indicted, Rogers still regarded Chinese spies as close friends. This also highlights that the process of Rogers' leaks may be more noteworthy than the results of the leaks.
According to comprehensive media reports, John Harold Rogers, a former senior adviser to the U.S. Federal Reserve, was accused of leaking Federal Reserve information to Chinese intelligence agents. Rogers was active on a dating website because of his loneliness, and through this he met Yu Liu (nicknamed "Yu Yu"), a Shanghai woman 24 years his junior. Rogers also met a man "Hummin" (Li Hongmin) at an academic seminar at Fudan University in Shanghai in 2013. Lee), but the United States believes that both "Yu Yu" and "Li Hongmin" are likely to be Chinese spies.
Please read on...
In addition to long-term interaction with Rogers, "Li Hongmin" also helped arrange the trip and expenses when Rogers wanted to go to China to meet "Yu Yu". "Li Hongmin" also helped with matters related to the divorce between "Yu Yu" and her ex-husband, and served as a witness to the prenuptial agreement between Rogers and "Yu Yu"; even when their child was born, it was "Li Hongmin" who went to the airport to pick him up and rushed to the hospital. As a result, Rogers developed an extremely deep spiritual dependence on "Li Hongmin". He even frankly said that without Li Hongmin, he would not have his wife and daughter. He had already regarded him as a biological brother.
After establishing absolute trust, Li Hongmin began to dig up Federal Reserve information. Rogers, who lost his vigilance, began to ask for internal reports from colleagues, and even forwarded "non-public/internal" documents to Li Hongmin. Rogers also printed out two internal Fed documents involving the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) economic forecasts and took a flight to Beijing the next day.
U.S. prosecutors accused Rogers of stealing secrets, turning the information to accomplices under the guise of teaching in China, and leaking confidential Federal Reserve information to Chinese intelligence personnel. However, Rogers was found guilty of making false statements to investigators in February this year, but the jury ultimately found him guilty only of lying to investigators and not guilty of conspiracy to commit economic espionage.
Shen Rongqin posted on Facebook that the process of Rogers leaking the secrets may be more noteworthy than the results of the leaks. As the prosecutor who prosecuted him said: "The facts of this case are like a spy novel. There is sex, money, manipulation, secret meetings with suspicious people in China, false identities, lies, tricks and deception. Everything in this case is true."
Shen Rongqin also bluntly said that this was the first time that Chinese intelligence agents had infiltrated the Federal Reserve, a real case of blue and gold, but in fact blue and gold were not accurate enough. Until Rogers was indicted, he still regarded Chinese spies as his best friends.
When sorting out the contents of the case, Shen Rongqin also mentioned that Li Hongmin regularly arranged for Rogers to go to China to give lectures, but these lectures were usually held in hotel rooms with only a few people in attendance. The course content included various aspects of the Federal Reserve's U.S. economic supervision. Rogers provided more and more information to Li Hongmin, and even invited colleagues at the Federal Reserve to provide some information to Li that they thought was suitable for China.
However, the relationship between Rogers and Yuyu began to break down after that, and Yuyu also claimed that Rogers had affairs with other women and had too many female friends. Eventually refusing to sleep with Rogers. Rogers began to feel lonely again, and he once again went online to flirt with beautiful young girls. He even used a cell phone issued by the Federal Reserve to take nude photos and exchange nude photos with these women.
As a result, the people behind those accounts began extorting money from Rogers. They told Rogers they knew where he worked and what car he drove. They threatened to send nude photos of him to the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve and threatened to kidnap Rogers' then 18-month-old daughter.
Rogers reported what happened to his superiors in 2020, and they subsequently forwarded Rogers' case to the Federal Reserve's Office of Inspector General. Only then did Rogers know that he had already been on the Inspector General's radar, and the Federal Reserve's cybersecurity team had also expressed concerns about Rogers' trip to China and his relationship with Li Hongmin.
Rogers resigned from the Fed as a result. Shortly after leaving the Fed, he began teaching at Fudan University in Shanghai. At that time, he thought that the case between him and Li Hongmin had disappeared with his resignation. However, the Federal Reserve handed the case over to the FBI, which arrested him more than three years later.
