FBI Uncovers Secret Gold Stash During Raid Of Former CIA Officer’s Home

The Justice Department charged a former CIA official with stealing public money after an FBI raid on his Virginia home uncovered more than 300 gold bars and dozens of luxury watches, according to court documents. 

The FBI arrested David Rush earlier this month and charged him with theft of public money. Investigators say that Rush, who they describe as a senior employee at a government agency with top security clearance, had a stash of 303 gold bars, 35 luxury watches including Rolexes, and $2 million in cash at his home. 

Rush worked for the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology, The Washington Post reported. 

From November 2025 to March 2026, Rush made several requests to the CIA to “obtain a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses,” an affidavit from the FBI alleges. He received the currency and gold bars and an FBI search of where the currency was stored only showed a portion remained, the FBI said.

The CIA “has been unable to locate the gold bars or significant amounts of the foreign currency RUSH received pursuant to his requests or to identify the intended use of these funds” and has yet to locate any record “providing information to his employer regarding the disposition of the currency or gold bars that he received for work-related purposes,” the affidavit said. 

Rush’s home was raided on May 18 and he was subsequently arrested the next day. 

The FBI affidavit also accused Rush of providing “false information about his education and military service on his application” to the CIA. Investigators said Rush falsely claimed to have attended both Clemson University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Despite claiming to be a graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School and running a test for a 145-person, 18-aircraft joint Army/Navy weapons test organization, the FBI said that records do not show that Rush “was ever a pilot for the Navy” and do not “indicate that he underwent any evaluations as a pilot.”

Investigators accused Rush of taking 744 hours of military leave on his official timesheet for about $77,000 in compensation that he should not have claimed. 

The FBI and CIA said in a statement that federal law enforcement had “arrested an individual following a referral from the Central Intelligence Agency. 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.”