Ex-CIA Official Accused of Embezzling $40 Million in Gold Bars
Sarah Shamim
A former senior CIA official has been charged with embezzling public money after more than 300 gold bars worth over $40 million were found hidden at his home. The FBI says David Rush lied about his education and military rank in multiple government job applications. He is in custody pending a court hearing.
A former senior official at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been charged with theft of public money after more than 300 gold bars valued at over $40 million were discovered stashed in his private residence.
David Rush, a former CIA employee, was arrested on May 19, according to a joint statement from the CIA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). After an internal CIA investigation identified signs of legal violations, CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred the case to the FBI. Rush is currently in custody pending a hearing on May 23 at the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
According to an FBI affidavit released on May 20, Rush was a former senior employee of a U.S. government agency with access to classified information. From 2009 through May 2026, Rush is accused of embezzling U.S. government property.
Rush enlisted in the Navy in 1997. In 2004, he submitted transcripts from Clemson University in South Carolina to obtain a commission as an officer in the Navy Reserve. In February 2015, Rush was honorably discharged with the rank of lieutenant. However, government records show that Rush subsequently claimed 744 hours of military leave, most recently in September 2025, receiving about $77,000 in compensation. Around September 2024, Rush told a government agency he was serving in the Navy Reserve with the rank of captain—higher than lieutenant.
The FBI accuses Rush of repeatedly lying about his degrees and rank in multiple job applications, claiming to have degrees from Clemson and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, while also calling himself a Navy pilot. The investigation found no evidence that Rush had attended those schools or ever worked as a test pilot.
From November 2025 to March 2026, Rush requested and received large amounts of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars from the U.S. government for official expenses. When investigated, the CIA found no trace of the gold or foreign currency, nor any records of Rush reporting the use of those assets.
On May 18, the FBI searched Rush’s home and seized approximately 303 gold bars—each weighing about 1 kg—valued at over $40 million, along with about $2 million in cash and 35 high-end watches, many of them Rolexes.
Gold is commonly used by the U.S. government in intelligence or military operations in places where local banking systems are unreliable or where the U.S. wants to avoid transaction trails. This has fueled speculation that the CIA used gold as a slush fund for covert activities. In 2003, the book Gold Warriors: America’s Secret Recovery of Yamashita’s Gold argued that the CIA used billions of dollars in gold found in Japanese tunnels in the Philippines after World War II to fund anti-Soviet campaigns.
Western nations have also accused Russia’s Wagner mercenary group of using a complex network to smuggle gold. A 2023 report by the U.K. House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee concluded that Wagner struck deals with African countries such as the Central African Republic, Mali, and Sudan to provide security and military support in exchange for resource extraction rights for gold, creating off-the-books revenue for Moscow.
