Ex-CIA officer stole $40 million in gold from agency, prosecutors allege

A former CIA official has been accused of stealing 303 gold bars worth over $40 million from the spy agency, according to court documents.

David Rush, a senior CIA official whose identity was revealed by multiple U.S. media outlets, stole the gold bars and stashed them at his residence in Virginia.

The officer with a high level of clearance said he needed for ‘work-related expenses,’ per NBC News citing court documents.

The officer in question was arrested last week and is being held in captivity as he awaits a detention hearing in the days to come.

The charges filed include stealing public money by filling out fraudulent time sheets, the outlet reported.

Separately, a New York Times report highlights that there are so many unanswered questions about Rush’s conduct.

The publication had accessed the copy of charging documents filed in Alexandria, Virginia.

The court documents describe Rush as a “former senior executive service-level employee at a United States government agency,” the publication added.

The only charge he was accused of is that he lied about his academic credentials and wrongly claimed to a member of the Navy Reserve when he was discharged from service.

The C.I.A. and F.B.I. issued a joint statement following the arrest on May 19, after the agency alerted the bureau.

“After a C.I.A. internal investigation identified 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.

How did the FBI find the stashed gold?

Rush, after requesting, received “a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses” between the period of November 2025 and March 2026, court records reveal.

When the CIA was conducting a review of finding the stashed gold and currency, the agency was “unable to locate the gold bars or significant amounts of the foreign currency,” per the court papers.

The F.B.I. raided Rush’s home on May 18, and located “approximately 303 gold bars, each of which weighed approximately one kilogram,” as per the filed affidavit.

These gold bars’ price exceeded $40 million, based on the current market price.

Investigators also confiscated roughly three dozen luxury watches, many of them Rolexes, stated in the affidavit.

Based on the price of gold, the affidavit said, the estimated value of the gold exceeded $40 million. Investigators also seized nearly three dozen luxury watches, many of them Rolexes.