F.B.I. Arrests C.I.A. Official With $40 Million in Gold Bars in His Home - The New York Times

Skip to contentSkip to site indexPolitics Today’s PaperPolitics|F.B.I. Arrests C.I.A. Official With $40 Million in Gold Bars in His Homehttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/us/politics/fbi-arrest-cia-official-gold-bars.htmlShare full articleAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTF.B.I. Arrests C.I.A. Official With $40 Million in Gold Bars in His HomeThe only charge lodged against David Rush is that he inflated his academic credentials and obtained military leave pay worth tens of thousands of dollars.Listen · 3:04 min Share full articleThe C.I.A. was “unable to locate the gold bars or significant amounts of the foreign currency,” the court papers charged.Credit...Tom Brenner for The New York TimesBy Devlin Barrett and Julian E. BarnesReporting from WashingtonMay 27, 2026, 5:01 p.m. ET

See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra más de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de búsqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google 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. The charging documents filed in Alexandria, Va., still leave a lot unanswered about his recent conduct.The only charge lodged against Mr. Rush is that he inflated his academic credentials and obtained military leave pay worth tens of thousands of dollars. The authorities say he falsely claimed to be a member of the Navy Reserve when he was discharged.The court papers describe Mr. Rush as a “former senior executive service-level employee at a United States government agency.” People familiar with the investigation say he until very recently held a senior position at the C.I.A.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. A lawyer for Mr. Rush declined to comment. A woman answering the phone at Mr. Rush’s house hung up on a reporter.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.On May 18, F.B.I. agents searched Mr. Rush’s home and found “approximately 303 gold bars, each of which weighed approximately one kilogram,” according to an 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.The court papers do not indicate why Mr. Rush appears to have kept so much gold, and $2 million in U.S. currency, in his home, or what work project would have required him to amass such wealth.Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting.Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.See more on: National Intelligence Estimates, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. NavyShare full articleRelated ContentAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSite IndexSite Information Navigation© 2026 The New York Times CompanyNYTCoContact UsAccessibilityWork with usAdvertiseT Brand StudioPrivacy PolicyCookie PolicyTerms of ServiceTerms of SaleSite MapCanadaInternationalHelpSubscriptionsManage Privacy Preferences

A senior Central Intelligence Agency official, David Rush, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation following the discovery of hundreds of gold bars valued at over forty million dollars stashed in his Virginia residence. The charges formally lodged against Rush relate not to the assets themselves, but to his conduct related to his employment and credentials. The sole charges filed against Mr. Rush involve inflating his academic credentials and obtaining military leave pay worth tens of thousands of dollars, stemming from false claims regarding his membership in the Navy Reserve upon discharge.

The investigation emerged after a C.I.A. internal review identified potential legal violations, prompting the C.I.A. Director, John Ratcliffe, to refer the information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for law enforcement action. Court papers indicate that while Rush was a former senior executive service-level employee at a United States government agency and held a senior position at the C.I.A. until recently, the subsequent investigation uncovered significant discrepancies. Over a period spanning from last November to March, records indicate that Rush requested and received a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenditures.

When the C.I.A. conducted a review of where these assets were stored, the agency reported that they were unable to locate either the gold bars or the significant amounts of foreign currency. However, during searches conducted by FBI agents at Rush’s home on May 18, they discovered approximately three hundred three gold bars, each weighing roughly one kilogram, with an estimated value exceeding forty million dollars based on the market price of gold. In addition to the gold, the investigators also seized nearly three dozen luxury watches, many of which were Rolexes, along with two million dollars in U.S. currency. The court documents do not account for the reasoning behind why Rush retained such a large amount of gold and United States currency in his home, nor do they specify the nature of the work project that supposedly necessitated the accumulation of such wealth.