Fed official used Asian dating site, sent nude photos and wound up blackmailed by alleged Chinese spy

A former senior Federal Reserve official who sought love on an Asian dating site became entangled with an alleged Chinese spy — then got blackmailed over nude photos, according to a report.FBI agents arrested John Harold Rogers, 65, in his Washington, DC-area neighborhood in January 2025 as he walked his spaniel, Prada, just days before a planned trip to China with his wife and daughter, CNBC reported Wednesday.The longtime economist was acquitted of conspiring to commit economic espionage, but convicted of making false statements to investigators and sentenced in July to 38 months in federal prison.“The facts of this case read like a spy novel,” federal prosecutor Nicholas Hunter told jurors.“There was sex.There was money, manipulation, secret meetings with shady characters in China, fake identities, lies, trickery, and deceit.”Rogers fatefully crossed paths with Hummin Lee at a 2013 Shanghai conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Lee was an alias for Jin Chuan, whom they identified as a Chinese intelligence operative, the FBI later said.At the time, Rogers was a senior adviser overseeing research in the Fed’s international finance division, putting him in a sensitive position inside the powerful central bank.Lonely after his four grown children moved away, the single father turned to AsianDating.com, where he sent nude photos to people he met online, according to CNBC.Lee gradually became entwined in Rogers’ life, sending gifts, arranging university lectures in China and helping Rogers pursue a relationship with Yu Liu, known as Yu Yu, a Shanghai woman 24 years Rogers’ junior whom he met on AsianDating.com in late 2016, according to CNBC.The romance moved quickly, with Lee organizing trips that allowed the couple to spend time together and helping with travel expenses, the report said.Yu Yu became pregnant during Rogers’ second visit, and the economist soon proposed, CNBC found.Yu Yu was still married, however, and Lee step...