Tag: fbi

Former Senior CIA Officer With Top-Secret Clearance ARRESTED After FBI Raid Home And Seize 300 Gold Bars Worth $40 Million — Plus $2 Million Cash And 35 Luxury Watches

A former senior CIA officer with top-secret security clearance has been arrested after federal agents raided his Virginia home and seized roughly 300 gold bars worth more than $40 million, along with approximately $2 million in cash and 35 luxury watches, mostly Rolexes.

The officer, identified as David Rush, who held a management position at the agency, now faces charges of criminal theft of public money.

According to NBC News, Rush allegedly used his position to request large amounts of gold and foreign currency, claiming they were for “work-related expenses,” only to allegedly divert and stash them at his Fairfax County residence.

On May 18, federal agents searched the home and walked out with the massive gold hoard. Investigators had earlier found only a portion of the funds in a storage space near his office.

Rush had requested the assets between November and March, according to an FBI affidavit.

The CIA’s own internal audit couldn’t account for the gold or significant foreign currency, prompting CIA Director John Ratcliffe to refer the matter to the FBI for criminal investigation.

More from NBC News:

Asked about Rush’s case, a CIA spokesperson said in a statement joint statement with the FBI that the FBI had arrested a person after a referral from the agency.

After a CIA internal investigation identified potential violations of the law, CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred the information to the FBI for a law enforcement investigation,” the written statement said. “The FBI is working closely with our partners at the CIA and the Department of Justice as we continue to investigate this matter fully. We are committed to following the facts, ensuring accountability, and pursuing justice in accordance with the law.”

The case raises questions about the effectiveness of the federal government’s security vetting, which is supposed to ensure intelligence officers or other government employees don’t betray the public trust or spy for foreign countries.

The U.S. government conducts background investigations on every prospective employee at the CIA and other agencies granted access to sensitive and secret information. And after employees are hired, the government continues to monitor their financial activities, travel, credit records and other information through automated checks to ensure they aren’t vulnerable to blackmail.

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, which falls under the authority of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, oversees the background check program, known as “continuous vetting.” When the program flags a potential problem or anomaly in an employee’s records, officials investigate further.

It wasn’t clear how the investigation into Rush began, and it also wasn’t clear when he left the CIA. His home was raided just last week.

Rush is also accused of a long-running fraud scheme in which he allegedly falsified time sheets, inflated his hours, and lied about his background for nearly two decades to secure and maintain his high-level position and extra pay.

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FBI-Assisted Operation Rescues Kidnapped U.S. Citizen in Jalisco

Coordinated efforts between Mexican authorities and the FBI led to the safe recovery of an American citizen abducted in a remote mountainous region of Jalisco, Mexico.

A joint security operation involving Mexican federal and state authorities, supported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), resulted in the rescue of a kidnapped U.S. citizen in the western Mexican state of Jalisco. The victim was located alive in a rugged mountainous area between the municipalities of Ixtlahuacán del Río and Cuquío after intelligence-sharing and emergency coordination between both countries.

According to officials from the Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office, the rescue mission began after the FBI submitted a formal alert and request for assistance to Mexican authorities regarding the disappearance and suspected kidnapping of the American citizen. Mexican security agencies quickly launched an operation involving ground units, aerial surveillance, and specialized tactical teams.

Authorities said the operation took place on the morning of May 22, 2026, in a difficult-to-access mountainous corridor in central Jalisco. Helicopters, including Black Hawk aircraft, were reportedly used to reach remote sections of the terrain where investigators believed the victim was being held.

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US author and son of Texas politician charged with helping to provide classified information to China

The son of a prominent Texas Republican politician has been swept up in an explosive federal case accusing him of helping funnel sensitive information to China.

Thomas Pauken II, an American author and political commentator who spent years living in China, allegedly acted as a go-between for contacts linked to Beijing dangling cash incentives to influence US policy from inside the federal government.

Pauken is now facing a felony charge alleging he operated on behalf of the Chinese government inside the United States without properly registering with the attorney general.

Federal investigators claim Pauken compiled confidential reports for a Chinese intelligence-linked handler who allegedly told him the material would ultimately be passed up the chain to Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

According to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court, Pauken also delivered electronic devices to another individual seeking work in the Trump administration later offering that same person a lucrative arrangement tied to providing weekly policy-related reports.

The allegations have thrust Pauken, who wrote under the pen name Tom McGregor while working in China, into the center of an increasingly tense standoff between Washington and Beijing over espionage, foreign influence and national security.

Court documents obtained by Politico say Pauken was first confronted by US authorities after returning from China in January 2025. 

But instead of immediately arresting him, investigators allegedly instructed him to continue behaving normally out of concern that abruptly cutting ties could place him in danger from China’s Ministry of State Security.

FBI Special Agent Timothy Healy wrote in the affidavit that Pauken was specifically warned not to alert Chinese officials about his contact with American law enforcement.

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FBI Shuts Down India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting Hundreds of Elderly Americans

A major international fraud scheme centered in India has been dismantled by Americans. authorities, exposing a sprawling network that targeted elderly Americans and siphoned millions of dollars out of the country.

The case is now fueling renewed concerns about foreign-based scam operations exploiting vulnerable U.S. citizens.

Federal investigators say the operation relied heavily on call centers operating out of India, where fraudsters posed as legitimate tech support agents, according to various reports. These overseas networks systematically targeted elderly Americans, many of whom were unfamiliar with modern cybersecurity threats.

At the center of the case are two America-based executives, Adam Young and Harrison Gevirtz, who pleaded guilty to enabling the scheme. Prosecutors say the pair provided critical telecommunications infrastructure that allowed India-based scammers to reach victims across the United States.

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Comey Tells Legion of Deep State Prosecutors to “Hang On” and Wait For President Trump to Leave Office

Embattled former FBI Director James Comey on Sunday called on the legion of Deep State prosecutors to “hang on” until Trump leaves office.

Comey appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday to trash the Trump Administration as he awaits his trial.

This is Comey’s third media appearance since a grand jury from the Eastern District of North Carolina indicted him on two felony counts:

COUNT ONE: Knowingly and willfully make a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon, the President of the United States;

COUNT TWO: knowingly and willfully did transmit in interstate and foreign commerce a communication that contained a threat to kill the President, Donald J. Trump

Read the indictment here.

James Comey has insisted that he is innocent.

On Sunday, Comey told the legion of Deep State prosecutors to “hang on” for 2 and a half more years so they can rebuild the Justice Department.

“If you’re bragging about forcing out career prosecutors and agents because the president doesn’t like a lawful investigation they conducted, something is seriously broken at the top,” Comey said.

“I’m urging them, hang on two and a half years, and then we can rebuild these institutions,” Comey added.

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FBI offers $200K reward for ex-U.S. agent charged with espionage for Iran

A $200,000 reward is being offered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for information regarding the arrest of Monica Witt, a former U.S. service member and counterintelligence agent, who is charged with espionage for Iran.

On Thursday, the FBI announced in a statement that Witt, 47-years-old, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia in February 2019 on espionage charges, including allegedly transmitting national defense information to the Iranian government.

Witt intentionally provided information that endangered U.S personnel and their families who were stationed overseas and conducted research on behalf of the Iranian regime which allowed them to target her former colleagues in the U.S. government, according to the statement.

“Monica Witt allegedly betrayed her oath to the Constitution more than a decade ago by defecting to Iran and providing the Iranian regime National Defense Information and likely continues to support their nefarious activities,” said Daniel Wierzbicki, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division.

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New Evidence Shows Biden FBI Set Trap to Close on Trump the Moment He Leaves Office

A report from Just the News says that Republicans in the House are scrambling to end the potential for prosecuting President Donald Trump after he leaves office.

This comes after the same outlet first broke the story Tuesday that during the lame-duck period of Joe Biden’s presidency, FBI agents with former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the 2020 election “secretly arranged to preserve their evidence until 2030 in memos that raise alarm they could revive their prosecution.”

“The FBI memos and emails closing out the controversial Arctic Frost investigation … show the bureau chose not to relinquish the evidence it gathered after Smith went to court to dismiss charges against Trump, even though that is the normal practice for agents,” Just the News reported.

“Instead, they created a preservation order keeping the evidence in FBI custody for two years after Trump’s second term ends, claiming it was necessary to do so because of ongoing litigation, the memos show.”

Because apparently, in 2029, a cudgel carried by the Democrats since 2020 will still be wielded against a president nine years later, no matter who the president is.

Ironically, this was revealed a little less than five months after Jack Smith said he was afraid he was going to be the guy prosecuted, telling the House Judiciary Committee that Trump administration officials would do “everything in their power” to charge him, but he would “not be intimidated,” according to The Associated Press.

He also told the committee in his testimony that he believed “Donald Trump is the person who caused Jan. 6, it was foreseeable to him, and that he sought to exploit the violence.” Apparently, he didn’t watch the speech or he has evidence he’s not sharing with us.

Whatever the case, Smith, who was a nakedly partisan actor, claimed Trump committed “serious crimes” by contesting the results of the 2020 election. Other Democrat election-deniers remained unmentioned.

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Kash Patel’s FBI Goes After the 764 Monsters Behind the Screens

A war on children has moved through decades, administrations, technologies, and platforms. It didn’t begin with President Donald Trump, and nobody should pretend one FBI director can wipe out every predator network by Friday afternoon.

Some evils grow dark for years, learning new tools, changing their names, moving across borders, and hunting wherever parents feel least prepared to fight back.

FBI Director Kash Patel has placed child exploitation near the center of the bureau’s work, and the 764 network shows why. The group and its offshoots target children through gaming sites, social media, and online communities, then use trust, threats, shame, and blackmail to push victims into self-harm, sexual exploitation, and violence.

FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock recently warned parents, guardians, and teachers that 764-style networks operate worldwide, including in North Texas, and share a common target: children and other vulnerable victims.

Rothrock’s warning pulls no punches: predators pose as friends, collect personal information, demand explicit images or videos, and use blackmail to force victims into worse acts. Some members livestream abuse, while others threaten swatting, doxxing, public humiliation, or harm to animals. Rothrock’s letter brings the problem to North Texas.

Violent online networks such as 764 operate around the world, including right here in North Texas. Some are driven by hatred, sexual gratification, or a desire for chaos. Regardless of their motivation, they have a common target: children and other at-risk individuals. These networks use the trust they initially build to manipulate victims into harming themselves or others. They coerce victims into sharing personal information and explicit pictures and videos, which are then used to blackmail their victims into creating more content depicting escalating sexual and violent behavior. Members of these networks sometimes livestream this content. When victims refuse to comply, their pictures and videos are sent to family members or made publicly available online. They might further coerce their victims by swatting, doxxing, or vandalizing their homes.

The FBI is investigating more than 450 subjects who are tied to these violent online networks. We have worked with federal prosecutors who successfully prosecuted these predators and are tirelessly working to investigate others.

Here in North Texas, FBI Dallas is aggressively investigating violent online network members and working with prosecutors to hold these criminals accountable. We are leveraging our expertise in fighting crimes against children and partnering with other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, as well as our international partners, to tackle this growing problem. Last month, we announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Austin Jan Sy Yatco of Plano, Texas. He is accused of exploiting minors into creating child pornography of themselves, which he then distributed among a violent online network similar to 764.

The FBI now investigates more than 450 subjects tied to violent online networks, and Rothrock says federal prosecutors have already secured convictions while agents continue hunting others.

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Comey Refuses to Talk About the Other Evidence Federal Prosecutors Have Against Him in First Media Appearance Since Indictment 

Embattled former FBI Director James Comey sat down for an interview with MSNOW anchor Nicolle Wallace on Monday evening.

This is Comey’s first media appearance since a grand jury from the Eastern District of North Carolina indicted him on two felony counts:

COUNT ONE: Knowingly and willfully make a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon, the President of the United States;

COUNT TWO: knowingly and willfully did transmit in interstate and foreign commerce a communication that contained a threat to kill the President, Donald J. Trump

Read the indictment here.

James Comey posted his threatening ‘8647’ Instagram post last May.

“Cool shell formation on my beach walk,” Comey said.

’86 47′ is a threat to ‘eliminate/kill’ the 47th president.

Comey told Nicolle Wallace in his first media appearance since his indictment that Trump is going to keep going after him.

“I’m gonna have to deal with this as long as Donald Trump in the White House thinking of me in the middle of the night,” Comey said.

“Trump wakes up at 3 am in the morning thinking about me. The reverse does not happen,” Comey insisted.

“If this case falls apart, they’ll do something else,” he said.

Comey clammed up when asked about the other evidence that Trump’s DOJ has against him.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche earlier this month said the indictment against Comey is based on a “body of evidence” beyond the Instagram post.

Comey told Nicolle Wallace that he can’t talk about the other evidence.

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FBI Launches Criminal Investigation into Senate Intel Committee Democrats for Leaking CLASSIFIED Intel on DNI Tulsi Gabbard to the New York Times: Report

The FBI has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into whether Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee or their staff leaked classified intelligence information to The New York Times in an apparent effort to damage Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard during her confirmation battle.

According to reporting from Just the News, the probe centers on a National Security Agency criminal referral last year tied to the disclosure of a classified overseas intercept that surfaced in a New York Times report during Gabbard’s contentious nomination process.

Sources told the outlet that FBI Director Kash Patel moved quickly after learning of the dormant referral, opening a criminal investigation into whether Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats or their staff improperly disclosed classified material.

The alleged leak reportedly involved intelligence tied to Gabbard’s 2017 Syria trip.

The intercepts reportedly captured two Hezbollah terrorists discussing Gabbard’s 2017 trip to Syria, where they claimed she met with “the big guy.”

The classified material was in the hands of Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats and their staff before it magically appeared in the New York Times hit piece.

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