A Chinese intelligence operative spent years cultivating a relationship with Federal Reserve advisor John Rogers. Used lies. Used love. Used betrayal. The whole espionage toolkit except the cyanide tooth.
Rogers worked at the Fed. Had access to economic policy discussions. Had a security clearance. Then met a man U.S. officials now identify as a Chinese spy. The relationship developed. Trust built. Information flowed. CNBC investigated the whole thing and found exactly what you'd expect when someone with classified access makes a new best friend who asks a lot of questions about monetary policy.
The Federal Reserve controls interest rates. Sets reserve requirements. Manages the money supply. Also apparently can't run a background check on who their advisors are texting at 2 AM. Rogers got entangled. That's the word CNBC used. Entangled. Like he tripped and fell into a years-long intelligence operation.
Chinese intelligence services are patient. They play the long game. They build relationships over years. Rogers presumably thought this was genuine friendship. Probably wondered why his buddy kept steering every conversation back to quantitative easing and forward guidance. Probably seemed weird that every birthday gift came with a questionnaire about Fed governors' voting patterns.
The spy used lies and love. That's the formula. Not exactly Ocean's Eleven level sophistication but it worked because Rogers fell for it. U.S. officials identified the operative. Investigated the connection. Rogers' career at the Fed ended. The spy went back to Beijing with a hard drive full of monetary policy insights and probably some photos from Applebee's.
Retail traders will read this story and panic about Chinese manipulation of Fed policy. They'll create new conspiracy theories. They'll post screenshots with red circles. They won't notice they're already getting manipulated by a guy named CryptoKing88 who tweets rocket emojis and hasn't been right about a trade since 2019.
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