A senior intelligence operative accused of stealing hundreds of gold bars worth more than $40m and hiding them at home remained in custody in Virginia on Friday after a judge pushed his first court appearance to next week.
David Rush, a former executive service-level employee for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is alleged to have taken 303 bullion bars, each weighing 2.2lb (1kg), and more than $2m in foreign currency, from his government office, according to an eight-page FBI affidavit.
He was arrested last week and charged with stealing public money after a search warrant executed at his home “in the eastern district of Virginia” also turned up 35 luxury watches, many of them Rolex.
“On or around November 2025 through on or around March 2026, Rush made several requests to the [United States government] to obtain a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses,” FBI special agent Matthew Johnson wrote in the criminal complaint, filed in US district court in the eastern district of Virginia.
The document did not explain what Rush intended to do with the gold and cash, which was discovered missing from an office he used at a government storage space.
The theft of public money charge relates not to the bullion or currency, but to the allegation that Rush falsified his educational qualifications and military service to secure his job with the CIA, which he joined in 2009 and secured “top secret/secure compartmented information clearance”, according to the FBI.
Rush is also alleged to have committed timecard fraud.
“Since being honorably discharged in February 2015, Rush has claimed 744 hours of military leave on his official timesheet, representing approximately $77,000 in compensation,” Johnson wrote, adding that Rush left the navy as a lieutenant but represented himself in the navy reserves as a captain.
He also falsely claimed to have been a navy pilot, Johnson wrote.
A joint statement from the CIA and the FBI said Rush was arrested on 19 May. “After a CIA internal investigation identified potential violations of the law, CIA director John Ratcliffe referred the information to the FBI for a law enforcement investigation,” it said, according to the New York Times.
Rush was denied bond and the magistrate judge William Fitzpatrick on Thursday agreed to postpone a detention hearing until 5 June.