A former CIA officer with top-secret clearance has been charged with stealing hundreds of gold bars from the federal government, a heist valued at more than $40 million, according to court documents filed in Virginia.
David Rush, who worked at the CIA, was arrested last week after federal agents searched his home earlier this month and confiscated 300 gold bars, the FBI affidavit states. The investigation is being conducted jointly by the FBI, the CIA, and the Justice Department.
Between November and March, Rush allegedly requested and obtained a “significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses,” according to the affidavit obtained by the Associated Press. Investigators have not yet determined how he planned to use the funds, though a portion was found in a storage space near his office.
During the search, federal officials also seized about $2 million in U.S. currency and approximately 35 luxury watches, the AP reported. A lawyer for Rush declined to comment when reached by the AP on Wednesday.
The FBI affidavit asserts there is probable cause to believe Rush “knowingly embezzled, stole, purloined, or knowingly converted a thing of value of the United States” for his personal use. The case echoes a recent high-profile scandal involving former Senator Bob Menendez, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison last year after a New York jury found him and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars, and luxury cars from three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for political favors.
Menendez, a Democrat, resigned from Congress in August 2024, a month after his conviction. The Menendez case highlighted the ongoing vulnerability of public officials to corruption involving gold and cash, a theme that now resurfaces with Rush’s arrest.
As the investigation unfolds, questions remain about how a former intelligence officer could allegedly divert such a large sum of government assets. The case has drawn attention to internal controls at the CIA, which is cooperating with federal law enforcement. A hearing is scheduled for Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
This development comes amid broader scrutiny of federal integrity, as seen in recent calls for probes into Trump's IRS settlement and a $1.78 billion fund, as well as allegations of perjury against top DOJ officials over the Epstein files.
