Sex, Money, and Espionage: The Federal Reserve China Spy Case

Nov 08, 2026 - 10:49

This is one of the most classic intelligence traps: find the target’s weakness, give him exactly what he is missing, and slowly make yourself indispensable.
Federal Reserve economist John Rogers was lonely. Then came a friendly young Chinese scholar, a much younger woman, paid trips, gifts, money, attention—and eventually requests for sensitive Federal Reserve information.
Rogers thought he had found friendship, love, and a second chance at happiness. Prosecutors said he had actually been cultivated for years by Chinese intelligence.
This is the extraordinary Federal Reserve China spy case—a story of sex, money, manipulation, betrayal, and how a target can be drawn into a trap long before he realizes he is in one.