CIA Officer Arrested With Gold Bars Admits Exposing Top-Secret Source to Foreign Government

A CIA officer arrested with gold bars and cash in his home has admitted to stealing from the government and exposing a top-secret source, according to court filings made public on Oct. 6.

David Rush, who is no longer with the CIA, pleaded guilty during a hearing in federal court in Virginia on Tuesday to a count of wire fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain of his crime.

Rush admitted as part of a plea agreement to disclosing sensitive information while he was a CIA officer.

Rush in 2025 “revealed to a foreign government official the existence and certain descriptive information of a U.S. government clandestine human source,” said one court filing, outlining facts Rush acknowledged were true.

The nature of the source’s work and the government for whom the official works was not detailed.

Rush admitted during an April 28 interview that he disclosed information about the source.

Scheme Involving Real Estate

Rush also said he made up a highly classified program to justify spending tens of millions on luxury real estate, including nearly $49 million on homes in Palm Beach, and luxury vehicles, including a BMW that cost about $172,000, according to court documents.

Rush represented to several individuals, including a CIA official, two companies, and an independent subcontractor with whom he had worked for years, that the program was legitimate.

Rush fabricated funding requirements for the program, which caused CIA personnel to approve funding and an unidentified company to provide him $45 million to satisfy one of the requirements, even though the CIA had not yet authorized the company to disburse funds for that requirement, he acknowledged.

A senior executive with the company “approved the advance funding because he trusted Rush and believed Rush’s representations that the expenditure reflected a legitimate government requirement for which Company 1 ultimately would be reimbursed,” said the statement of facts that Rush admitted were true.

Rush ultimately caused the company to transfer about $145 million to a holding company between November 2025 and March 2026 and used that money to buy luxury real estate properties, including the residences in Palm Beach and parcels of land in Palm Beach and Hobe Sound.

Rush planned to renovate the properties and sell them for profit.

More Fabrications

Rush also fabricated a government activity that enabled the acquisition of 298 gold bars, the court documents say.

Rush represented that there was a highly sensitive government assignment that required buying valuable assets. He told a senior executive of another company that the activity permitted buying gold, diamonds, or cryptocurrency. He eventually directed the individual to buy gold.

The company, which was not named, bought the gold bars at the cost of about $46.7 million, which came from the government.

The bars were delivered to Rush’s office in Loudoun County, Virginia, between late 2025 and early 2026.

Rush later told the executive that the gold had been delivered to purported recipients.

The FBI obtained a warrant and searched Rush’s home in May. Agents found all of the bars along with $2.1 million in U.S. currency, approximately $139,000 in foreign currency, and more than 30 watches.

Rush used the purported nature of the programs to hide them from others, including a CIA contracting official who questioned money Rush approved in connection with the real estate scheme.

Rush also falsely represented his background, including a false claim that he was a military pilot. He was in the U.S. Navy, but was honorably discharged.

Officials React

“David Rush abused his position and betrayed the public trust and should be held fully accountable for his actions,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement. “We appreciate our law enforcement partners in the FBI and Department of Justice for securing this outcome.”

Attorney General Todd Blanche said: “Federal employees are entrusted with serving the American people, not themselves. The Trump Administration is committed to rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, including by prosecuting those who foolishly defraud American taxpayers.”

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in a statement that Rush betrayed the trust of the American people.

Rush’s lawyer declined to comment in an email to The Epoch Times.