From The Washington Post:
Ex-CIA official expected to plead guilty in $40 million gold bar case
FBI agents seized gold bars, money and luxury watches this year at the home of David J. Rush, according to an affidavit.
Details of the plea were not immediately available. An attorney for Rush declined to comment Monday. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Alexandria did not respond to a request for comment. Any plea agreement must be approved by a judge.
At times evoking a spy novel, the allegations in the case have raised questions about how the CIA decided to place Rush in a sensitive intelligence position while failing to uncover alleged misrepresentations about his educational history and military service.
Rush, who joined the CIA around 2009 and had a top-secret security clearance, was most recently employed as a senior executive in the agency’s Directorate of Science and Technology, which develops high-tech tools for spy missions, according to court records and current and former U.S. officials.
From November 2025 to March 2026, Rush repeatedly made requests for “a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses,” according to an FBI affidavit. But the U.S. government was unable to locate the gold or much of the foreign currency, or any record in which Rush detailed how he disposed of those assets, the affidavit states.
FBI agents seized 303 gold bars worth about $40 million while searching Rush’s home in Virginia this year, according to court records, along with $2 million in U.S. currency and 35 luxury watches.
As part of the case, an FBI agent said that Rush “provided false information about his education and military service” on his application to work for the U.S. government and fraudulently collected $77,000 in military leave after being honorably discharged from the Navy Reserves.
Rush claimed in job applications to the U.S. government and in a form he submitted in 2009 to obtain his security clearance that he had a bachelor’s degree from Clemson University and a master’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, two schools he never attended, according to the FBI.
Former U.S. intelligence officials have said they were stunned to learn that Rush’s alleged misrepresentations went unflagged in what are usually lengthy and rigorous background checks for would-be CIA employees. The CIA has placed several agency officials on leave as FBI and spy agency investigations continue, people familiar with the matter previously told The Washington Post.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
