A former senior CIA officer who held a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance pleaded guilty Tuesday to a scheme that prosecutors say drained approximately $194 million from the federal government, money he converted into gold bars, Florida luxury properties, Rolex watches, and high-end cars.
David J. Rush, 49, of Ashburn, Virginia, admitted the fraud in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia.
The Justice Department said he fraudulently obtained approximately $193,590,400 by misusing his senior executive-level position and inventing fictitious government authorities, including a fabricated Special Access Program, to pull U.S. funds for his own use.
According to the Department of Justice, Rush reached that trusted post in part by lying about his education and military experience. Once inside, he used the clearance and the authority that came with it to move money that never belonged to him.
The scheme split into two tracks that prosecutors described as the same overarching fraud. Rush directed approximately $145 million in wire transfers that he used to buy luxury real estate, watches, and at least one car. Separately, he obtained gold bars at an approximate cost to the government of $46 million.
Court filings reported by CBS News say he invented a fake classified program to steer the real-estate money through a front company and a holding company he controlled, then bought properties in Palm Beach and Hobe Sound, Florida, that he intended to resell for profit. He also fabricated a separate purported sensitive government activity to justify the gold.
The FBI search of his Virginia home on May 19 recovered 298 gold bars, approximately $2,106,550 in cash, €104,795, and numerous luxury watches.
