Charges: Adviser Leaked Fed Secrets to China

An economist who was a senior adviser to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors has been arrested, charged with stealing insider data to provide to China. John Harold Rogers, 63, was taken into custody on Friday, CNBC reports. The information could help China manipulate the American market "in a manner similar to insider trading," said a statement from the US attorney's office in Washington, DC. Prosecutors said Rogers conspired with two members of China's intelligence and security operations who had posed as graduate students in that country.

"Gaining advance knowledge of US economic policy, including advance knowledge of changes to the federal funds rate, could provide China with an advantage when selling or buying US bonds or securities," the statement said. Rogers worked in the Fed's Division of International Finance from 2010 until 2021, per the Washington Post. The indictment on charges of conspiracy to commit economic espionage and making false statements was unsealed in federal court on Friday. The espionage charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Rogers moved to Shanghai after leaving the Fed post. (More Federal Reserve stories.)