Ex-CIA Official in $40 Million Gold Bar Case Reaches Tentative Plea Deal
A former CIA officer and Navy veteran who was found with about $40 million worth of gold bars inside his Virginia home allegedly tied to a classified CIA program, reached a tentative plea deal with prosecutors.
David Rush was arrested in May after an FBI search of his home found 303 gold bars, $2 million in cash, and 35 luxury watches.
According to a joint filing, Rush’s attorney and federal prosecutors have made “significant progress and have a plea agreement in principle” that would resolve the case before Rush is formally indicted on additional charges. In the filing, both sides noted the consuming burdens of dealing with classified information if the case moves toward trial.
So far, Rush has been charged only with one count of theft of public money. That charge is in relation to falsifying time sheets, when he allegedly requested pay for time deployed as a Navy reservist years after leaving the military. Rush was also accused of inflating his government salary by falsely claiming he had degrees from Clemson University in South Carolina and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.
As for the gold bars, prosecutors say they can be traced to Rush’s time at the CIA, where he worked as a senior supervisor in a unit that designed spycraft tools.
Law enforcement says Rush created a fake classified program that allowed him to obtain the gold.
According to an unsealed complaint, the scheme unraveled after Rush made multiple requests to the CIA for a "significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars” -- claiming the payout was for “work-related expenses.”
The court filing did not indicate what charges Rush would plead guilty to.
