A former CIA officer allegedly concocted a fake spy program to funnel tens of millions in gold bars under the guise of “work related expenses.”
The Washington Post first reported that David J. Rush obscured the scheme through a special access program, a classification used for the most secret intelligence operations. Two colleagues were “read in” to the program, meaning they were bound by secrecy, sources familiar with the investigation said. They said Rush convinced one of them to transfer millions into the program using a fake government contract.
“He made up a contract,” a source told the Washington Post.
Rush, 49, was arrested on May 19 after FBI agents raided his home in Ashburn, Va., and found 303 gold bars, weighing about 1 kilogram each. The agents also found 35 luxury watches, many of them Rolexes, and more than US$2 million in cash. The stash of gold bars were worth about US$40 million under current rates, according to the FBI.
Rush is being held on one count of stealing public money. According to an affidavit filed on May 20 in the U.S. district court in Alexandria, Va., the charge is in connection to filing false timesheets. Rush collected approximately US$77,000 worth of pay in military leave by lying about joining the Navy Reserve after being discharged in 2015.
Rush also lied about his college degrees to obtain his CIA job, and about being a Navy pilot in his application to enter the executive ranks, according to an affidavit obtained by National Post.
“A review of Rush’s military personnel file does not indicate that Rush was ever a pilot for the Navy, nor does it indicate that he underwent any evaluations as a pilot,” FBI special agent Matthew Johnson wrote in the complaint.
“Instead Rush’s personnel file indicates that he had other responsibilities, such as an information systems technician.”
Rush also claimed he obtained a bachelor’s degree from Clemson University in 2000 and a masters in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2004, both of which turned out to be false, Johnson said. Rush was able to use those deceptions to climb the ranks and obtain higher pay, he added.
Rush, a CIA officer for 17 years, had top-secret clearance and worked in some of the CIA’s most sensitive intelligence-gathering operations, sources tell the Washington Post. Details of the operations are kept under wraps and only a handful of U.S. intelligence officials and lawmakers are aware of their existence, they said. Rush worked in the agency’s Directorate of Science and Technology arm, which creates espionage tools for that are used in intelligence activities abroad.
His most recent role involved working as a liaison for the U.S. Defense Department for a nuclear submarine program, NBC News reported . The role was given to him at the request of Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, with whom Rush had a close professional relationship, four people familiar with the relationship told the broadcaster. The billionaire Trump donor co-founded the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. The Pentagon has strongly denied any relationship between the two.
Rush allegedly requested money for his fake operation from around November 2025 through to March 2026, successfully obtaining a “significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses.” It is unclear whether the two people Rush recruited for his fictional program were aware it was bogus.
During a detention hearing on Friday, prosecutors said a large sum of funds is unaccounted for, CBS reported. Federal lawyers described Rush as a “master manipulator” who lied to his neighbours about being a Navy pilot and “lied to his colleagues” about basic facts about his qualifications.
The judge ordered Rush to remain in detention, noting he had “means and motive” to flee. He is being held in solitary confinement pending trial. Rush’s lawyer, Jessica Carmichael, noted the gold was locked away securely in his home when it was recovered. When agents searched his home, he mentioned the gold bars and provided the combination needed to access them, she said, calling it a “nonissue.”
Carmichael, who called the allegations “sensational,” added that Rush’s job is “bizarre and secretive at times.”
Meanwhile, several senior agency officials have been put on leave as FBI and CIA investigations continue. The agency said it “identified potential violations of the law” during an internal investigation and referred the issue to the FBI.
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