Ex-Federal Reserve adviser Rogers arrested for passing trade secrets to China

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A former senior adviser to the U.S. Federal Reserve, John Harold Rogers, was arrested on charges he conspired to steal Fed trade secrets for the benefit of China, the Justice Department announced on Friday.

Rogers, who worked as a senior adviser in the Fed’s division of international finance from 2010 until 2021, allegedly shared confidential information with Chinese co-conspirators who worked for the intelligence and security apparatus of China and posed as graduate students.

A judge ordered Rogers to be held until a detention hearing next Tuesday, according to a U.S. Attorney’s office spokesperson.

A Federal Reserve spokesman declined to comment. An attorney for Rogers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Chinese Embassy spokesperson said the embassy was not familiar with the specifics of this case but added that “China is a country that upholds the rule of law.”

The spokesperson added that China did not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

“We oppose any smear and attack on China with so-called ‘spy risks’,” the spokesperson added.

The Fed’s international finance division is responsible for basic research, policy analysis, and reporting in the areas of foreign economic activity, U.S. external trade and capital flows, and developments in international financial markets and institutions, according to the U.S. central bank’s website.

Starting in 2018, Rogers allegedly began soliciting confidential information including economic data and sensitive information about interest-rate deliberations, and then passed it on to co-conspirators while pretending to teach classes in China, according to the indictment.

Rogers received payments for airfare, lodging and dining during his travel to China, and was offered a payment for a beach vacation, the indictment said.

He is charged with conspiracy to commit economic espionage and with making false statements.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder, Douglas Gillison, Ann Saphir; Editing by Alistair Bell and Himani Sarkar)