John Harold Rogers was walking Prada, his tiny spaniel, past a school bus stop in his suburban Washington neighborhood when FBI agents surrounded him. They handcuffed the former senior Federal Reserve official and took him into custody to face charges of spying for China. An agent took Prada's leash, and investigators from multiple federal agencies began an intensive search of Rogers' house.
The now 65-year-old economist was arrested in January 2025, days before he was set to travel to China with his wife, a Chinese national, and their 6-year-old daughter. Investigators believed that Rogers passed information about the Fed to a Chinese government spy, who, over more than a decade, helped him with his career, his 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 Rogers' descent from senior Fed official to espionage suspect appears to have been driven by his desire for female companionship. This desire was exploited by a Chinese government agent, who became increasingly entwined in Rogers' professional and personal life.
Rogers' indiscretion was later exploited by online blackmail scammers, ultimately leading to his downfall. "The facts of this case read like a spy novel," federal prosecutor Nicholas Hunter told the jury at Rogers' trial in 2026. "There was sex. There was money, manipulation, secret meetings with shady characters in China, fake identities, lies, trickery, and deceit. But this was real life.
The events of this case all happened." The crucial question, though, was whether Rogers was a spy or a dupe for Chinese intelligence. His lawyers argued that he didn't pass any information of value to the Chinese and that he was just a naive academic who got caught up in espionage.
A CNBC investigation of the Rogers case has yielded a trove of information not previously made public, including text messages, audio recordings made by investigators, copies of the secret Fed documents Rogers was accused of accessing, and dozens of photographs of Rogers, the Chinese spy and the young Chinese woman who would become Rogers' second wife.
This story is based on those materials as well as interviews, testimony, and documents and images produced in court proceedings. Rogers declined to be interviewed for this story. Officials at the Federal Reserve and the Fed's Office of Inspector General declined to comment. U.S.
Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, whose office prosecuted Rogers, said: "John Rogers spent years secretly funneling sensitive Federal Reserve information to Chinese spies, then looked investigators in the eye and lied about it.
And when that wasn't enough, he lied again under oath at trial." Jonathan Gitlen, an attorney for Rogers, told CNBC that the economist did not lie under oath.
The Chinese spy Rogers first met the man U.S. officials identify as a Chinese government spy in 2013 at a conference in Shanghai sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas on the campus of Fudan University, one of China's elite colleges. During a session break, a tall, broad-shouldered young Chinese man approached Rogers and introduced himself as Hummin Lee, a Ph.D. student.
The U.S. government believes Lee's real name is Jin Chuan and that he is a Chinese spy. Ralph Goff, a retired 35-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, believes the Chinese government might have been tracking Rogers well before he met Lee in Shanghai.
Goff, who did not play a role in the Rogers investigation but has decades of experience cultivating sources for espionage, said Rogers would have been a valuable target, given his role as senior advisor overseeing research in the Fed's international finance division, which gave him an inside view of one of the most important and impenetrable financial institutions in the world.
The Chinese government's interest may have been piqued by Rogers' behavior on dating apps. Rogers, a single father whose four children had grown up and moved away, was lonely and spending time on a website called AsianDating.com. He was sending nude photos to people he met online.
Lee and Rogers kept in touch over email and connected on Facebook, giving Lee a peek into Rogers' personal life, including photos of his family. It also gave Rogers a small peek at Lee. On Facebook, Lee's account displayed a picture of the young Chinese man from behind, rippling shoulders framed in a weight lifter's tank top.
Another showed Lee on the floor of a gym in chocolate-chip camouflage pants, doing a situp while a German shepherd holds down his feet. Lee had just six friends on Facebook. Over the years, Lee wished Rogers a happy birthday. He sent him Christmas gifts, including a copy of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" and a set of silk scarves. Lee also invited Rogers to lecture at universities in China.
After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, Lee emailed Rogers about a Christmas gift he had just sent — a traditional Chinese painting. And then he asked a pointed question about the new administration: "It seems Donald Trump not friendly to China," Lee wrote. "Some news said he will mark China as a currency manipulator, will that be true? Do you have any comments about this?
Have a great Christmas Day." In his reply, Rogers didn't answer the question. "Merry Christmas to you too, Hummin," he wrote. "You are so kind, as always. I did not yet receive your kind gift but will let you know when I do." Romance in China A week later, on New Year's Eve, Rogers was home alone.
He would later say that on that night he "kind of felt like a loser." Late in the evening, he logged on to AsianDating.com. There, he encountered a young woman in Shanghai with a beautiful smile: Yu Liu, known as Yu Yu. Rogers thought she had lovely eyes. The two exchanged photos and talked about their goals for the future. Soon, they were discussing building a new life together.
Rogers did not speak Chinese. But Yu Yu's messages were so well written that Rogers believed that she spoke excellent English. Later he learned that she didn't speak the language at all. Rogers' budding romance with Yu Yu changed his relationship with Lee. Suddenly, the American economist was eager to travel to China, where he would be able to meet the woman with the beautiful smile.
Goff said Chinese intelligence was likely aware of the meeting. "If this woman wasn't a plant by Chinese intelligence into that web dating site, then I'm sure that they had a meeting with her soon after that contact," Goff said. He said Chinese intelligence could have told Yu Yu to pursue the relationship. It is unclear whether Yu Yu has any links to the Chinese government.
CNBC attempted to contact Yu Yu at her home and provided a detailed list of questions to her, but she has not responded. The following May, Rogers accepted an invitation from Lee to lecture at two universities in China. On that trip, Rogers met Yu Yu in person for the first time. The couple had to rely on smartphone apps to communicate with one another, but that didn't slow down the relationship.
When he returned to the United States, Rogers' text messages with Yu Yu had turned to talk of marriage and babies. Rogers wrote: "I am lonely without Yuyu." Soon, Rogers wrote to Lee proposing that he be invited back to teach classes at Chinese universities — and to spend a few days in Shanghai, where Yu Yu lived.
Lee replied by email, delighted to accommodate the Federal Reserve economist. "Of course it's a great plan for us," Lee wrote. "We always look forward to listening to your presentation.... Your related expenses in China will all be covered by us." Lee got to work providing documents for Rogers to use in his visa application to travel to China.
Lee arranged for Rogers to return to China in October 2017. Lee managed the itinerary, set up lectures, and arranged for Rogers and Yu Yu to travel by train together between Chinese cities. On that trip, the second time Rogers had see