John Rogers was visiting Shanghai in May 2013, attending a business forum as a Federal Reserve economist, when he first received an email from an alleged Chinese intelligence agent.
The man described himself as a Chinese graduate student who was interested in learning about the Fed. Rogers says he refused the man’s offer to pay him. But they stayed in touch, and later, the man invited Rogers to visit China again, all expenses paid.
This time, Rogers made the trip, setting off a chain of events that led to espionage charges against him in the U.S.—and exposed new details about China’s alleged efforts to recruit informants inside U.S. government institutions.
