CIA Official Arrested After $40M in Gold Bars Found

A longtime CIA official is in jail after federal agents say they found more than $40 million in gold bars stacked inside his Virginia home, the New York Times reports. Court documents allege that David Rush (described only as a former senior executive at a US government agency; sources ID him as having been CIA) had obtained tens of millions of dollars in gold and foreign currency for "work-related expenses"—and then couldn't account for where it went.

Rush has so far been charged not over the gold itself, but with allegedly faking Navy Reserve status to receive tens of thousands in military leave pay, as well as inflating his academic record. He allegedly claimed to have graduated from US Air Force Test Pilot School, among other things, when applying for his CIA job, Fox News reports. That was in 2009, per NBC News, which notes he had previously applied twice before.

An internal CIA probe reportedly triggered the criminal investigation, with Director John Ratcliffe referring the case to the FBI, which searched Rush's house on May 18 and says it uncovered roughly 303 one-kilogram gold bars, nearly $2 million in cash, and about three dozen high-end watches, many Rolexes. The court filings don't explain what mission would have required that volume of assets or why it was stored at his residence. Rush's attorney declined to comment.