A CIA official who secured his position with a fake resume was arrested for stealing $40 million in gold and $2 million in cash. He had 308 gold bars stored in his home.
A senior CIA officer with top-secret clearance, David Rush, has been charged with criminal theft of public money after federal agents raided his home and seized roughly 300 gold bars, $2 million in cash, and 35 luxury watches, mostly Rolexes, according to the NY Times.
The Story
A senior C.I.A. official was arrested last week after investigators found hundreds of gold bars worth over $40 million stashed in his Virginia residence, a small fortune that he apparently brought home from work, according to court papers.
The official, David Rush, is being held in jail while he awaits a detention hearing in the coming days on charges of stealing public money by filling out fraudulent time sheets.
In a joint statement, the C.I.A. and F.B.I. said the arrest occurred on May 19, after the agency alerted the bureau.
“After a C.I.A. internal investigation identified potential violations of the law, C.I.A. Director John Ratcliffe referred the information to the F.B.I. for a law enforcement investigation,” the statement said.
He allegedly lied about his background, including fake college degrees and a Navy pilot license, for nearly 20 years and claimed the gold was for “work-related expenses.”
From last November to March, the court papers say, Mr. Rush asked for, and received, “a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses.”
When the C.I.A. conducted a review of where the gold and currency were stashed, the agency was “unable to locate the gold bars or significant amounts of the foreign currency,” according to court papers.
So, Mr. Rush took his work home with him.
The CIA referred the case to the FBI following an internal investigation.
The only charge lodged against David Rush so far is that he inflated his academic credentials and obtained military leave pay worth tens of thousands of dollars.