The only charge brought against David Rush is that he inflated his academic credentials and obtained military leave payments worth tens of thousands of dollars.
A top CIA official was arrested last week after investigators found hundreds of gold bars worth more than $40 million hidden in his Virginia residence, a small fortune he apparently took home from work, according to court documents.
The official, David Rush, is jailed pending a detention hearing in the coming days; He is accused of stealing public money by falsifying time sheets. The charging documents filed in Alexandria, Virginia, still leave much unanswered about his recent conduct.
The only charge brought against Rush is that he exaggerated his academic credentials and obtained tens of thousands of dollars in military leave pay. Authorities say he lied when he claimed to be a member of the Naval Reserve when he was discharged.
Court documents describe Rush as a “former senior executive service level employee at a United States government agency.” People familiar with the investigation say that until very recently he held a senior position in the CIA.
In a joint statement, the CIA and FBI said the arrest occurred on May 19, after the agency alerted the FBI.
“After an internal CIA investigation identified possible violations of the law, CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred the information to the FBI for a law enforcement investigation,” the statement said.
A lawyer for Rush declined to comment. A woman who answered the phone at Rush’s home hung up on a reporter.
Between last November and March, according to court documents, Rush requested and received “a significant amount of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bullion for work-related expenses.”
When the CIA conducted a review of the gold and currency locations, the agency was “unable to locate gold bullion or significant amounts of foreign currency,” according to court documents.
On May 18, FBI agents searched Rush’s home and found “approximately 303 gold bars, each weighing approximately one kilogram,” according to an affidavit. Based on the price of gold, the affidavit said, the estimated value of the metal was more than $40 million. Investigators also seized nearly three dozen luxury watches, many of them Rolex.
Court documents do not indicate why Rush would have kept so much gold in his home, in addition to $2 million in US currency, nor what work project would have required him to amass such wealth.
Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting
Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the FBI for the Times.
Julian E. Barnes covers U.S. intelligence agencies and international security issues for the Times. He has written on security issues for more than two decades.
Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting
