Ex-CIA officer who pilfered $40M in gold bars exploited loophole meant to protect top-secret operations: report
A former CIA officer caught with $40 million in gold bars stashed in his Virginia home created a bogus secret intelligence program to help him hide the massive flow of government money into his personal coffers.
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David Rush, who worked for the US spy agency for 17 years, obscured his ill-gotten gains through a “special access program,” a tool typically reserved for intelligence work so sensitive even the CIA has limited access, according to the New York Times.
The fugazi program enabled him to obtain tens of millions worth of gold bars from the agency between last November and March of this year by simply claiming he needed them for “work-related expenses,” according to court documents.
Citing two sources familiar with the investigation, the outlet reports the stated purpose of Rush’s fake program was “continuity of government operations” — which typically refers to enabling the government to function during an attack or natural disaster.
The sources told the outlet that Rush had separately looped two colleagues into the program in a way that prevented them from speaking about it to anyone else, then convinced one of them to transfer the vast sums of bullion into the program by way of a fraudulent government contract.
The FBI raided Rush’s Auburn home on May 18, finding a cache of 303 one-kilogram gold bars, $2 million in US currency and some 35 luxury watches — with “many of them” being Rolexes, according to the affidavit.
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The court documents allege that the FBI investigation revealed that Rush crafted an elaborate web of deception about his military service and educational background, which he parlayed into progressively higher positions and pay over his decades-long career.
He falsely claimed to hold degrees from Clemson University in South Carolina and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Upstate New York — as well as an evaluation certification from the US Naval Test Pilot School.
Prosecutors branded Rush a “master manipulator” in a court hearing Friday, claiming he also posed as a doctor.
At the same hearing, Judge William E. Fitzpatrick of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled Rush was a flight risk and must remain behind bars.
