Former Fed official jailed after online romance led to blackmail
John Harold Rogers, a former senior Federal Reserve official, was arrested in January 2025 after being seduced and blackmailed by an alleged Chinese spy using explicit photographs. Though charged with espionage, Rogers was ultimately convicted of making false statements to investigators and lying under oath, receiving a 38-month prison sentence in July 2025. The case raises serious questions about counterintelligence vulnerabilities and how sensitive government employees can be compromised through personal relationships and sexual coercion.
Rogers, 65, had been seeking romantic connections on AsianDating.com after his children grew up, sending nude photos to online matches. In 2013, he met an alleged Chinese intelligence operative using the alias "Hummin Lee" (real name Jin Chuan) at a Federal Reserve conference in Shanghai. The spy orchestrated Rogers' relationship with a Chinese woman nearly 25 years his junior, they married in Hong Kong in 2018, and during their interactions, Lee repeatedly sought sensitive information about US financial policy, China-US relations, and trade policy. Rogers admitted to sharing classified material and claimed he owed "everything" to the operative, whom he said he loved "like a brother."
- Federal Reserve official blackmailed by Chinese spy after sharing classified intelligence.
- Alleged spy orchestrated fake romance to extract US financial policy and trade secrets.
- Convicted of lying to investigators; sentenced to 38 months in prison.
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John Harold Rogers, a former senior Federal Reserve official, was arrested in January 2025 after being targeted in a blackmail scheme involving explicit photographs. He was convicted in July 2025 not of espionage itself but of making false statements to investigators and lying under oath, receiving a 38-month prison sentence. The case illustrates how sensitive government employees can be compromised through personal relationships and sexual coercion.
Rogers met an alleged Chinese intelligence operative whilst seeking romantic connections online and at a 2013 Federal Reserve conference in Shanghai. The operative, known as "Hummin Lee", orchestrated a romantic relationship between Rogers and a much younger Chinese woman, whom Rogers later married in Hong Kong in 2018. During their interactions, the operative repeatedly pressed Rogers for classified information about US financial policy and trade matters, and used explicit photographs to blackmail him.
The case reveals the vulnerability of senior officials to foreign intelligence operations that target personal relationships. Rogers admitted to sharing classified material and developed strong emotional attachments to those manipulating him. It underscores the ongoing challenge government agencies face in protecting sensitive positions from counterintelligence threats exploiting personal vulnerabilities.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “‘Sex, money, manipulation’: Ex-Fed bigwig seduced online and blackmailed with nude photos by alleged Chinese spy”.