John Harold Rogers ( John Harold Rogers ) was walking his small Spanish hunting dog, named Prada, through a bus stop in a suburban community of Washington when he was suddenly surrounded by agent FBI. The agent put handcuffs on this former senior Federal Reserve official and took him away, facing charges of spying for China.

An agent took over the tow rope of Prada, and investigators from several federal agencies immediately conducted a thorough search of Rogers' residence.

This 65-year-old economist was arrested in January 2025, just a few days before he was set to travel to China with his wife, who is a Chinese citizen, and their 6-year-old daughter. Investigators believe that Rogers passed on information about the Federal Reserve to a Chinese government spy, who, over a period of more than a decade, provided assistance to him in his career, finances, and his marriage to a woman 24 years his junior.

"The facts of this case read like a spy novel."

Federal Prosecutor Nicholas Hunter ( Nicholas Hunter ) told the jury during Rogers' trial in 2026: 'There was sex, there was money, there was control, there were secret meetings with suspicious individuals in China, there were fake identities, lies, tricks, and deception. But this is real life. All of these things that happened in this case did indeed take place.'

However, the key question is whether Rogers is a spy or merely a person exploited by Chinese intelligence agencies. His lawyer argues that he did not pass on any valuable information to the Chinese side and that he is just an innocent scholar who accidentally became involved in espionage activities.

The investigation into the Rogers case by CNBC has obtained a large amount of information that was not previously made public, including text messages, audio recordings made by investigators, copies of secret Federal Reserve documents that Rogers is alleged to have obtained, as well as dozens of photographs of Rogers, that Chinese spy, and a young Chinese woman who later became Rogers' second wife. This article is written based on these materials, as well as interviews, testimonies, and documents and images presented during court proceedings.

Rogers refused to be interviewed for this article.

Officials from the Federal Reserve and its Office of the Comptroller General declined to comment.

Jenienne Piro, the federal prosecutor from the District of Columbia responsible for prosecuting Rogers, stated: "John Rogers has for years secretly passed sensitive Federal Reserve information to Chinese spies, and then he even lied in front of investigators. And when that wasn't enough, he lied again after taking an oath in court."

Roger's lawyer, Jonathan Gitlen ( Jonathan Gitlen ), stated to CNBC that the economist did not commit perjury after taking the oath.

Chinese spy

In 2013, Rogers first met this individual who was identified by American officials as a spy for the Chinese government. At that time, the Federal Reserve's Dallas Federal Reserve Bank held a conference on the campus of Fudan University, one of China's top universities, in Shanghai.

During a break between sessions, a tall and broad-shouldered young Chinese man approached Rogers, claiming to be a doctoral student Hummin Lee. The U.S. government believes that the real name of Lee is Jin Chuan ( Jin Chuan ) and has identified him as a Chinese spy.

Ralph Goff, who worked for 35 years at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the United States and is now retired ( Ralph Goff ), believes that the Chinese government may have been tracking Rogeres before he met Lee in Shanghai. Goff was not involved in the investigation of the Rogers case but has decades of experience in cultivating spy agents. He said that considering Rogers' role as a senior advisor responsible for research in the Federal Reserve's international finance department, allowing him to observe from within one of the most important and difficult-to-penetrate financial institutions in the world, he would be a very valuable target.

The interest of the Chinese government may have been piqued by Rogers' behavior on dating apps. Rogers is a single father whose four children have all grown up and moved out of home. He feels lonely and is active on a website named AsianDating.com. He sends naked photos to people he meets online.

Lee and Rogers maintain contact through email, and they added each other as friends on Facebook, which allowed Lee to glimpse Rogers' private life, including his family photos.

This also gave Rogers some understanding of Lee. On Facebook, the account of Lee displayed a photo taken from behind, showing a young Chinese man wearing a weightlifting vest with well-defined shoulder muscles. Another photo showed Lee lying on the gym floor doing sit-ups, with a German Shepherd pressing down on his feet. Lee only has 6 friends on Facebook.

Over the years, Lee has wished Rogers a happy birthday and sent him Christmas gifts, including a copy of "The Art of War" written by his grandson and a set of scarves. Lee has also invited Rogers to give lectures at Chinese universities.

After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, Lee sent an email to Rogers mentioning a Christmas gift he had just sent out—a traditional Chinese painting. He then directly asked about the new administration, writing, “It seems that Donald Trump is not friendly towards China,” Lee stated, “There are reports that he might list China as a currency manipulator, could that be true? What’s your opinion on this? Happy Christmas.”

Rogers did not answer this question in his reply. “Hummin, also have a Merry Christmas to you,” he wrote, “you’re as wonderful as always. I haven’t received your gift yet, but I’ll let you know once I do.”

Chinese Love Stories

A week later, on New Year's Eve, Rogers was home alone. He later said that that night he "feeled a bit like a loser." In the late hours of the night, he logged into AsianDating.com.

There, he met a young woman from Shanghai with a beautiful smile: Liu Yu ( Yu Liu ), nicknamed Yu Yu. Rogers found her eyes very enchanting.

The two exchanged photos and talked about their respective goals for the future. Soon, they began to discuss starting a new life together. Rogers couldn’t speak Chinese, but the messages sent by Yu Yu were so well-written that Rogers thought she had a good command of English. It was only later that he found out that she couldn’t speak English at all.

Rogers' budding romance with Yu Yu changed his relationship with Lee. Suddenly, this American economist became very eager to go to China, because there he could meet this woman with a charming smile.

Gove stated that it is very likely that Chinese intelligence agencies were aware of this encounter. “If this woman was not someone planted by Chinese intelligence agencies on that dating website, then I am certain that they would have approached her shortly after the two got in contact,” he said. He added that Chinese intelligence agencies might have instructed Yu Yu to pursue this relationship.

It is currently unclear whether Yu Yu has any connection with the Chinese government. CNBC once attempted to contact Yu Yu at her residence and provided her with a detailed list of questions, but she did not respond.

In May of the following year, Rogers accepted an invitation from Lee to give lectures at two universities in China. During that trip, Rogers met Yu Yu in person for the first time. The couple had to rely on smartphone applications to communicate, but this did not slow down the development of their relationship.

After returning to the United States, Rogers' text messages with Yu Yu shifted to topics about marriage and children. Rogers wrote, "Without Yuyu, I feel very lonely."

Not long after, Rogers wrote to Lee proposing to be invited again to teach at Chinese universities and to stay in Shanghai, where Yu Yu resides, for a few days.

Lee replied in the email, saying that they were delighted to accommodate the arrangements of this Federal Reserve economist. "Of course, this is a great plan for us," Lee wrote, "We have been looking forward to hearing your lecture... All your related expenses in China will be borne by us." Lee then began to prepare the documents for Rogers' visa application to China.

Lee arranged for Rogers to visit China again in October 2017. Lee was responsible for the itinerary, organizing lectures, and arranging for Rogers to travel together with Yu Yu by train between Chinese cities.

During that journey, which was also the second time Rogers met Yu Yu in person, she became pregnant. After returning to the United States, Rogers sent a text message to Yu Yu: "I want to marry you. Dear, would you like to marry me?"

Yu Yu replied, "God told me: It is right to marry John!"

The two began to prepare for their wedding to be held in Hong Kong. The following month, Yu Yu sent Rogers a photo of a pregnancy test stick. Rogers replied, “I’m so happy, YuYu. Becoming a father again is probably the most wonderful thing that could happen in my life. I love you very much.”

"That person seems to know everything."

Pregnancy and wedding preparations made Rogers even more dependent on Lee. This American needed assistance with travel, had to deal with various procedures, and also required financial support for travel expenses. Lee took care of all of these for him. Rogers later said to the Federal Reserve investigators, "That person seemed to know everything."

As Lee became increasingly involved in Rogers' increasingly complex life, they also began to inquire with Rogers about information regarding the internal workings of the Federal Reserve. Rogers was resistant, claiming that he had nothing to share. He later said that he had told Lee: "I don't have any additional information, and none of the economists at the Federal Reserve possess any knowledge beyond what is publicly available on our website."

Lee introduced Rogers to his boss, referring to him as Professor Cui. Lee said that it was this boss who approved Rogers' travel expenses and arranged for the invitation for Rogers to give lectures in China.

Cui asked Rogers about rumors and gossip regarding the Federal Reserve and offered him bundles of cash, but Rogers claimed he refused such an offer. Rogers stated in court that Cui played the role of the 'bad cop', while Lee played the role of the 'good cop'.

A long time later, when federal agents searched Rogers' residence, they found $55,000 in cash. A portion of this money was contained in a white plastic shopping bag, placed at the bottom of the closet mixed among a pile of women's clothing. According to testimony during the trial, investigators were unable to determine the origin of this cash.

However, Rogers' life is becoming increasingly complicated and expensive. Once, Lee wrote to Rogers saying, " Yu Yu said she needed 5000 before you came back. I have already transferred 5000 to her. It's my own money. Don't worry."

Rogers needed more help and cash in order to get Yu Yu to divorce her husband at that time. The other party demanded 80,000 yuan—about 12,000 US dollars at the current exchange rate—to sign the divorce documents. Rogers offered to pay 10,000 yuan.

Lee promised to take care of the divorce documents. “Go to sleep and get some rest, brother.” Lee wrote.

Just over 7 hours later, Lee sent Rogers a photo of the newly issued divorce certificate. “Yuyu has got the divorce certificate!” Lee wrote.

“This is the best news I’ve received since waking up,” Rogers replied.

In March 2018, Rogers married Yu Yu in Hong Kong. Lee was responsible for the logistics and arrangement of the important details of the wedding, and also served as a witness by signing the prenuptial agreement between Rogers and Yu Yu. "Thank goodness you helped with everything! Without you, Yuyu and I would have been in trouble," Rogers wrote to Lee.

In the summer of 2018, as Yu Yu was approaching her due date, Rogers took a paternity leave from the Federal Reserve and flew to China to welcome the birth of their new daughter. Lee went to the airport to meet him and accompanied Rogers and Yu Yu to the hospital for the delivery.

Rogers also realized that Lee – who was reportedly at that time a professor of economics at a certain Chinese university – showed an unusually strong interest in him. Rogers told the Federal Reserve investigators that this Chinese economist was “a super nice person, but nice to the point of being a bit unnerving.”

Rogers also fell in love with the country of China itself. In his phone, he stored a long “love letter” written to China. It begins with: “Dear Chinese people, I love your kindness, generosity, and your humble, diligent, and highly accomplished society.”

In the end, Yu Yu and their children moved to Rogers' home in Virginia.

"I owe [ Hummin Lee ] everything... I love him as I would a brother."

Rogers later admitted to investigators that he held deep gratitude towards Lee. "I owe him everything. Without him, there would be no child, and there would be no relationship between my wife and me. Although we met online, without him, none of this would have happened. I love him as a brother."

Searching for Fed Secrets

Lee seems to have increased its efforts to obtain information about the Federal Reserve from Rogers. Lee regularly arranges for Rogers to give lectures in China, although these lectures are often held in hotel rooms and are attended by only a few people. The topics of the lectures include specific aspects of how the Federal Reserve regulates the U.S. economy.

Once, Lee sent Rogers a file image that listed a series of printing issues, including: "In the past two years, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates several times. Why hasn't the US dollar seen a significant appreciation, but has instead remained at a relatively low level?" and "How does the Federal Reserve assess China's financial liberalization, especially the degree of openness of the stock market and exchange rate?"

At the bottom of the document, there are also questions regarding Trump: "How does the Federal Reserve assess Trump's proposed trade war with China? Will the Federal Reserve adjust its monetary policy to accommodate the trade war? What specific measures will the Federal Reserve take?"

Lee said in the message to Rogers, 'I wonder if you could help us collect answers or documents from your colleagues and teach us when we meet.'

Rogers testified in court that these questions are not harmful. “These are some of the most fundamental and classic questions in international finance and macroeconomics; they can be answered without any need for sensitive information from the Federal Reserve, and moreover, these issues have been discussed in academic literature for decades,” he said.

After receiving the list of questions, Rogers sent emails to two colleagues within the Federal Reserve to seek answers. "I wonder if you could recommend some reading materials regarding the Federal Reserve and China for me," Rogers wrote. "I will be going to Beijing shortly to attend a conference," he continued, "and of course, I want to help my very generous hosts, but it seems I always fail to provide them with the correct information. I think part of the reason is that they want me to reveal some secrets about the Federal Reserve that they believe exist."

I think part of the reason is that they wanted me to reveal some secrets of the Federal Reserve that they believed to exist.

Rogers asked his colleagues to provide materials that he could “appropriately share” with the Chinese side.

A colleague attached two files in their reply, one of which was labeled as “Nonconfidential / Internal FR”, where “FR” represents “Federal Reserve (Federal Reserve)”.

Later, a federal agent testified that Rogers changed the title of the document to “Nonconfidential / External” and then forwarded it to Lee.

Rogers' lawyer stated that, as a senior official at the Federal Reserve, Rogers had the authority to decide on his own whether to modify the document title, as he was also responsible for deleting any sensitive information from it.

In October 2018, Rogers suggested to Lee that their next course could focus on "uncertainty in trade policy."

Subsequently, he sent an email to a colleague requesting materials from the Federal Reserve regarding uncertainties in trade policy. He wrote: “Could you provide me with: first, a three-sentence description of our current approach; and/or second, any written materials that are allowed to be shared? If there are any written materials that are not allowed to be shared, please also send them to me so that I can stay informed about the latest developments.”

This colleague forwarded a document regarding the taxation of laundry services to Rogers. The degree of confidentiality of the information contained in this document, and whether it even qualifies as confidential at all, later became a focal point of debate between the prosecution and Rogers' lawyer in court.

Rogers forwarded this document to his own Gmail private email address, and then sent it from there to Lee.

In June of the following year, Rogers printed two documents. One of them belonged to the category of economic forecasts that are typically used by Federal Reserve staff to prepare for the Interest Rate Policy Committee and the Fed's bond buying and selling operations. According to Fed guidelines, these are considered one of the most sensitive activities. The other document was a set of briefing points for a Federal Reserve economist to use when presenting to the Federal Open Market Committee members before a meeting. The next day, Rogers boarded a flight to China.

Three days later, Rogers took a photo of a class being held in a hotel room in Beijing. In the photo were three people: Hummin Lee, another man, and a woman. All three were wearing T-shirts and posed next to a large video monitor. The prosecution later stated that Lee and that man both worked for China's security and intelligence agencies.

A marriage is heading towards breakdown.

In the American family, the relationship between Rogers and Yu Yu began to deteriorate. Moving from Shanghai to Vienna Town, Virginia, and raising a baby in a strange environment was a huge change. Rogers later testified, "It's completely understandable that she had difficulty adapting to the new life. I feel a great deal of sympathy for her." Their relationship became turbulent.

By early 2019, Rogers and Yu Yu had started arguing via text messages. Yu Yu demanded more money from Rogers, who claimed he had already given enough, including covering the rent for the apartment of Yu Yu's parents.

Yu Yu also accused Rogers of having relationships with other women. 'You need to be responsible for your wife and newborn!' she wrote, 'You have too many girlfriends.'

Soon, the local police were involved. Rogers had invited another woman to stay at his home. Later, Gittlen told CNBC that that woman was a masseuse who had treated Rogers for back problems.

A verbal argument between two women escalated into a physical confrontation. Yu Yu and Rogers told the Vienna police that Yu Yu was assaulted. Yu Yu stated that the woman scratched her face and chest and also pulled her hair. When a police officer asked about Rogers' relationship with that woman, Rogers told the police, "I swear to God, we are just friends."

However, the breakdown in the relationship between Rogers and Yu Yu is irreparable. Rogers said that Yu Yu has moved into a guest room in his house.

After falling into loneliness once again, Rogers turned to the internet. This time, it would lead to his complete downfall.

Extortion and Trial

On Instagram, Rogers exchanged messages with some accounts that displayed photos of beautiful women, and eventually they even exchanged nude photos taken by each other. These photos were taken using the phone provided to him by the Federal Reserve, and sometimes even in the gym at the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington.

Soon after, the people behind these accounts began to demand money from Rogers. They knew where he worked and what car he drove. They threatened to send nude photos of Rogers to Richard Clarida (Richard Clarida), who was then the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve. They also threatened to kidnap Rogers' then 18-month-old daughter. Rogers testified that all of this made him "very scared, and he just wanted to protect his family."

This was the tipping point that overwhelmed him. In 2020, on "Super Bowl Sunday," Rogers confessed to his superiors what had happened. Subsequently, they referred him to the Office of the Comptroller of the Federal Reserve.

In fact, Rogers has long been under the scrutiny of the Inspector General's office, and the Federal Reserve's cybersecurity team is also concerned about his trip to China as well as his relationship with Lee.

Rogers had a voluntary meeting of two and a half hours with Special Agent Alan Hershkovitz from the Office of the Inspector General, who is in charge of criminal investigations ( Alan Hershkowitz ). According to the recording, Rogers said during the conversation, 'My mind is a bit confused.'

The recording shows that when the conversation turned to nude photos, Rogers breathed heavily and let out several long sighs, struggling to explain how the scammer obtained these photos. “Of course, one keeps thinking over and over, ‘How could this happen? What did I do wrong?’” Rogers said.

“This is a serious question that we must ask,” Hershkovitz said, “Are there any nude photos? Have you ever taken nude photos of yourself?”

“No.” Rogers replied.

Hershkowitz continued to press for answers, stating that this information was very important for determining whether the threat posed by the scammer was genuine. Rogers sighed again and said, 'I cannot rule out that possibility.'

Soon, the conversation turned to China, as well as Rogers' relationship with Yu Yu and Lee.

"The book knowledge he possesses and the articles listed on his resume are not enough to prepare him for being a spy."

Subsequently, Hershkovitz asked, 'Have you ever provided or shared any restricted information from the Federal Reserve Board?' He detailed several categories of information that are considered confidential by the Federal Reserve. 'Have you ever shared or provided this information with anyone outside of the Board?'

Rogers replied, "Never."

The prosecution later claimed that this was a lie. They were able to prove that Rogers had indeed sent such a document—not to Lee, but to a co-author at Fudan University in Shanghai. Rogers’ lawyer argued that although the statement “never” was not true, it was not made with knowledge and intent; at that time, Rogers was emotionally agitated due to the nude photos and extortion incident and was unable to remember every document he had sent over the years.

This incident effectively ended Rogers' career as an economist at the Federal Reserve. He was placed on administrative leave and in the spring of 2021, he chose to resign rather than being fired.

The specific circumstances of his resignation—years of contact with Chinese parties, as well as taking nude photos within the Federal Reserve—have not been made public.

Not long after leaving the Federal Reserve, Rogers began teaching at Fudan University, the very institution he visited in 2013 when he first met Lee. He thought that the case concerning him had come to an end.

He was wrong. The Federal Reserve has transferred the case to FBI. More than three years later, agents from FBI surrounded Rogers and his dog at a school bus stop.

He is charged with one crime of making false statements to investigators, as well as a more serious crime of conspiring to carry out economic espionage.

Rogers' trial began in January 2026.

During the trial, the prosecution labeled Rogers as a traitor, accusing him of “conspiring with Chinese spies to provide the People's Republic of China with invaluable secret information from the United States Federal Reserve System.”

Roger's lawyer, Stephen Soltzberg ( Stephen Saltzburg ), argued that Rogers mistook the person. 'The book knowledge he possesses and the articles on his resume are not sufficient to prepare him for espionage.'

On February 3, the jury found Rogers guilty of making false statements, but acquitted him of the charge of conspiring to engage in economic espionage.

On July 15th, he was sentenced to 38 months of federal imprisonment.

On the same day, a report by the Federal Reserve's Ombudsman stated that the central bank had multiple security issues, including a lack of "procedures for identifying critical assets," and that it was necessary to establish projects to manage risks related to internal personnel.

In another report released on September 24, the Office of the Comptroller General disclosed that a Federal Reserve employee transferred potentially sensitive information outside of the Fed on the eve of his retirement in 2024, exposing shortcomings in the Fed's information security measures.

In the view of CIA veteran Gove, although Rogers was not convicted of espionage, the case still represented a victory for the U.S. government. “I think they ended up winning in the end, but it shouldn’t have taken so long.”

When asked whether he believed that China was still attempting to infiltrate the Federal Reserve, Gove replied: "Absolutely so."

Three weeks after Gove made the above comments, FBI announced the disruption of a large-scale hacking operation supported by the Chinese government, which targeted sensitive American institutions including the Federal Reserve.

At the end of his testimony, Rogers was asked who he thought Lee was.

“A spy.” Rogers replied.

“What do you feel after knowing this?” someone asked him.

"I was deceived," Rogers said, "he used to be my friend."