A former CIA official has been accused of stealing gold bars worth over $40 million
David Rush, a former senior CIA official, has been arrested and charged with embezzling public funds. This is according to documents filed in a federal court in Virginia, as reported by NBC News.
According to the investigation, between November and March, Rush requested and received significant amounts of foreign currency and gold bars worth tens of millions of dollars, allegedly for official expenses.
An FBI agent’s affidavit states that investigators do not yet know exactly what these funds were intended for, but some of the assets were found in a storage facility near Rush’s office.
On 18 May, federal law enforcement officers carried out a search of his home. During the search, they seized over 300 gold bars with an estimated value of over $40 million.
Law enforcement officers also seized around two million dollars in cash and approximately 35 luxury watches, including Rolexes.
The day after the search, David Rash was arrested.
The FBI stated that it had sufficient grounds to believe that Rush had “knowingly misappropriated, embezzled, or misused United States property” for his own benefit.
The FBI is cooperating with the CIA and the US Department of Justice in the investigation.
Rush’s lawyer declined to comment.
Court documents refer to Rush as a “former senior executive service-level employee of a US government agency”. His exact position at the CIA and date of departure are not specified.
The FBI materials also state that Rush likely misrepresented his education and military service for years.
Investigators established that he claimed to have been a US Navy pilot and to have studied at Clemson University in South Carolina and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.
However, the FBI found that Rush joined the US Navy in 1997 and served in the US Navy Reserve from 2004 to 2015. He was discharged with the rank of lieutenant.
The documents state that during his service he did not undergo evaluation as a pilot and did not study at the universities mentioned.
Rash is currently in custody pending a hearing at the federal court in Alexandria, scheduled for Friday.
