Feds seize – Federal agents arrested David Rush after finding 303 gold bars worth at least $40 million in his Virginia home, along with cash and luxury watches. Court records say Rush had top security clearance and requested tens of millions in gold and foreign currency fo
Federal agents didn’t find a small stash in David Rush’s Virginia home. They found hundreds of gold bars—303 of them—each weighing about 2.2 pounds, with an estimated value of more than $40 million, according to a FBI affidavit submitted in his case.
Rush, an ex-government official with top security clearance, was arrested last week and remains in federal custody while he awaits a detention hearing next week. He faces a federal charge of theft of public money. His attorney declined to comment.
The search also turned up about $2 million in cash, along with 35 Rolexes and other luxury watches, the FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. Yet the charge Rush is facing is not tied to the gold or the cash seized from his home, the affidavit says.
Court records describe Rush as a “former senior executive service level employee at a United States Government agency” with top secret clearance and access to classified information. The New York Times has reported that Rush worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.
As the case moves toward the detention hearing, the details in court filings paint a picture of an investigation centered on missing funds—rather than the inventory itself—and on inconsistencies officials say were uncovered along the way.
Between November 2025 and March. the affidavit says. Rush asked for—and received—a “significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses.” It was expected the bars and money would be held in government storage space. but a review of that storage. according to the affidavit. showed that most of what Rush was supposed to be storing was missing.
The records do not explain why Rush would have needed that much gold and cash for work expenses.
As investigators dug deeper during the course of the inquiry, the affidavit says the FBI learned that Rush lied about his academic credentials for government jobs and fraudulently took $77,000 in military leave after lying about being an active member of the Navy Reserve.
The affidavit says Rush had been in the Navy and was honorably discharged in 2015. It says Rush claimed he was in the Navy Reserves for another 10 years through 2025.
The CIA’s role in the background of the case is drawn indirectly through a separate account of how the matter was escalated. In a joint statement to the New York Times. the CIA and the FBI said an internal CIA investigation “identified possible violations of the law. ” and that CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred the information to the FBI for a law enforcement investigation.
A tension runs through the filings: agents say a large quantity of gold and cash went missing from storage connected to work-related requests. while the items seized from Rush’s home are described in the affidavit as evidence surrounding the broader investigation—even though the current charge. officials say. does not directly track the hoard itself. The case now turns on how a judge views the risks and facts ahead of the detention hearing next week.
David Rush gold bars FBI affidavit CIA Virginia home theft of public money detention hearing top secret clearance Rolex watches military leave fraud Navy Reserve