China targeted the Fed to build an informant network

Duh, but good to see this coming out in the WSJ.  Excerpt:

China tried to build a network of informants inside the Federal Reserve system, at one point threatening to imprison a Fed economist during a trip to Shanghai unless he agreed to provide nonpublic economic data, a congressional investigation found.

The investigation by Republican staff members of the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs found that over a decade Fed employees were offered contracts with Chinese talent recruitment programs, which often include cash payments, and asked to provide information on the U.S. economy, interest rate changes and policies, according to a report of the findings released on Tuesday.

If you are surprised by any of this, you have not been paying attention.  Good work by Kate O’Keefe and Nick Timiraos.