A Navy veteran and former CIA officer who was found with more than $40 million in gold bars in his Virginia home is nearing a plea deal.
David Rush reached a tentative plea agreement, according to a joint court filing by prosecutors and his attorney. A federal judge extended the deadline to formally indict him to Oct. 8 to give the parties time to finalize it.
In their filing, both sides told the court the resolution would serve the public interest, in part because a trial could involve significant litigation over classified material.
So far, Rush faces a single charge—theft of public money—which has nothing to do with the seized gold. Instead, he’s charged with timesheet fraud.
Prosecutors have not filed charges tied to the gold itself as the case remains in a pre-indictment stage while the plea agreement is negotiated.
Rush’s Military Record
Rush was honorably discharged from the Navy in 2015.
The charge against him grew out of what happened afterward when he allegedly claimed 744 hours of military leave he was no longer entitled to on his federal timesheet, equating to roughly $77,000 in compensation, according to prosecutors.
Investigators also alleged that Rush inflated his government salary by falsely claiming he held degrees from Clemson University in South Carolina, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, according to an FBI affidavit.
That document said he provided false information about both his education and his military service on his government application.
How He Allegedly Got the Gold
When FBI agents searched Rush’s home in May, they seized about 303 gold bars worth more than $40 million.
They also found roughly $2 million in cash and about 35 luxury watches, many of them Rolexes, according to the affidavit. Rush was arrested May 19.
How the gold ended up in his basement is what sets the case apart. According to U.S. officials, Rush was an officer in the CIA’s science and technology division who created a false classified program that only a handful of people were cleared to know about.
That secrecy, officials said, allowed him to request and receive tens of millions of dollars in gold bars and foreign currency from the government for what he described as work-related expenses.
The requests drew little scrutiny since so few people had access to the purported program, according to court records.
Shaping the Outcome
The same classified environment that prosecutors say enabled the scheme is now shaping how the case may conclude.
In their joint filing, the government and Rush’s attorney told the court that resolving the matter through a plea, rather than a trial, would avoid the hurdles that handling classified material can create in open court.
That means a man found with $40 million in gold in his home may resolve his case without a full public trial, reflecting the national security sensitivities wrapped around his former work instead of any question about the value of what was seized.
The parties wrote that they had made significant progress and had a plea agreement in principle that would resolve the matter before an indictment.
At press time, Rush had not entered a plea.
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