The death penalty should be brought back for treason.
United States Attorney’s Office
WASHINGTON – John Harold Rogers, 63, of Vienna, Virginia, a former Senior Adviser for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (FRB), was arrested today on charges that he conspired to steal Federal Reserve trade secrets for the benefit of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
In furtherance of the conspiracy, Rogers allegedly made false statements to the Federal Reserve Board Office of Inspector General, and those false statements had a material impact on its investigation.
The indictment, unsealed today, was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., Supervisory Official Devin DeBacker of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, FBI Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the Washington Field Office, and John T. Perez, Special Agent in Charge, Headquarters Operations, Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (FRB-CFPB OIG).
“President Trump tasks us with protecting our fellow Americans from all enemies, foreign and domestic. As alleged in the indictment, this defendant leveraged his position within the Federal Reserve to pass sensitive financial information to the Chinese government, a designated foreign adversary,” said U.S. Attorney Martin. “Let this indictment serve as a warning to all who seek to betray or exploit the United States: law enforcement will find you and hold you accountable.”
“As alleged, the defendant violated the trust placed in him by the Federal Reserve Bank by putting U.S. trade secrets in the hands of his PRC co-conspirators, knowing full well that such information would benefit the PRC Government and PRC instrumentalities,” said Devin DeBacker, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Justice Department will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to disrupt economic espionage and protect our national security.”“The Chinese Communist Party has expanded its economic espionage campaign to target U.S. government financial policies and trade secrets in an effort to undermine the U.S. and become the sole superpower,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg. “Today’s indictment represents the FBI’s unwavering commitment to protect U.S. national security interests and U.S. jobs and to bring to justice those who are willing to betray their country for personal gain.”
“This indictment sends a clear message that those who deliberately misuse sensitive Federal Reserve information for their own personal gain and lie about it to investigators will be held accountable for their actions,” said John T. Perez, Special Agent in Charge of Headquarters Operations FRB-CFPB OIG.
According to the indictment, Rogers, a U.S. citizen with a Ph.D. in Economics, worked as a Senior Adviser in the Division of International Finance of the FRB from 2010 until 2021, where he was entrusted with confidential FRB information. The confidential information that Rogers allegedly shared with his Chinese co-conspirators, who worked for the intelligence and security apparatus of China and who posed as graduate students at a PRC university, is economically valuable when secret.
China holds a large amount of U.S. foreign debt (approximately $816 billion as of October 2024). The data Rogers shared with his co-conspirators could allow China to manipulate the U.S. market, in a manner similar to insider trading. Gaining advance knowledge of U.S. economic policy, including advance knowledge of changes to the federal funds rate, could provide China with an advantage when selling or buying U.S. bonds or securities.
The indictment alleges that from at least 2018, Rogers allegedly exploited his employment with the FRB by soliciting trade-secret information regarding proprietary economic data sets, deliberations about tariffs targeting China, briefing books for designated governors, and sensitive information about Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) deliberations and forthcoming announcements. He passed that information electronically to his personal email account, in violation of FRB policy, or printed it prior to traveling to China, in preparation for meetings with his co-conspirators. Under the guise of teaching “classes,” Rogers met with his co-conspirators in hotel rooms in China where he conveyed sensitive, trade-secret information that belonged to the FRB and the FOMC.
In 2023, Rogers was paid approximately $450,000 USD as a part-time professor at a Chinese university.
On February 4, 2020, in response to questioning by the Office of the Inspector General for the Federal Reserve Board, Rogers lied about his accessing and passage of sensitive information and his associations with his co-conspirators.
Rogers is charged with conspiracy to commit economic espionage and with making false statements. Conspiracy to commit economic espionage carries a maximum statutory penalty of 15 years in prison, and a maximum fine of $5 million. Making false statements carries a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison.
The Chinese have engaged in cyber attacks, spying, economic espionage, and actual threatening of U.S. Naval vessels.
China builds artificial islands and militarizes them.
A ChiCom Air Show exhibition depicted their forces attacking a U.S. Navy vessel.
China announces that its nuclear submarines can hit the U.S. with missiles.
China’s military buildup is accelerating. American companies who do business with China help fund the military buildup. In turn, China arms North Korea and Iran.
The government and American businesses are treating Beijing like a business partner. These traitors think giving them money, technology, and contributing to the Chinese threat are good ideas.
Propping up a communist totalitarian regime with capitalist dollars is suicidal. China is an enemy and should be treated as such instead of having the privilege of being a business associate. Doing business with a communist country will not transform it into a freedom-nurturing society.
A senior Chinese officer declared that China should ‘topple U.S. dominance’. Whether China can actually pull this off is a matter of great debate, but the fact that they have their claws sunk so deeply into us economically should be a wake-up call.
They’re also buying land right next to US military bases.
The ChiComs should not be allowed in this country in any way shape or form. They don’t have to resort to subversive methods to get secrets anymore. The fucking military is handing it to them on a silver platter.
It’s time to bring this shit to a halt.
And march traitors like Rogers to the gallows.
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