A former CIA agent has pleaded guilty to misusing his government position to execute a scheme to defraud the federal government out of approximately $194 million, after spending the taxpayer funds on a trove of gold bars and luxury properties in Florida.
David J. Rush, 49, was employed in a senior executive-level position at the CIA and held a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearance. While reaching these top positions, Rush lied about his education and military experience, according to his plea agreement.
Rush used his position to acquire gold bars and purchase four luxury real estate properties in Florida worth more than $100 million altogether, along with 298 gold bars, luxury watches, and two BMW vehicles. The plea agreement reached on Tuesday orders him to forfeit the property and repay the government.
“By his own admission, David Rush defrauded the government of hundreds of millions of dollars, and then misused those funds for extravagant purchases,” said FBI Director Kash Patel in a press release. “Rush betrayed his oath, his co-workers, and the American people and he will now face justice for his actions.”
Due to his rank, Rush, who worked out of the Eastern District of Virginia, had legitimate access to activities that were highly classified. He was then able to artificially invoke “need to know” constraints that made it difficult for other agency personnel to verify that Rush’s requests were for legitimate CIA operations, prosecutors say.
To defraud the United States, Rush created a fabricated Special Access Program, which is a program that imposes access requirements exceeding those generally required at a given classification level.
Rush granted program access to several government contractors and subcontractors, representing to them that they were part of a legitimate classified government program, referred to in court documents as SAP #1.
“Rush thereby used the essential secrecy and need-to-know requirements associated with legitimate classified programs to discourage the individuals he deceived from exposing Rush’s false representations to routine administrative, contracting, or financial review,” reads the case’s statement of facts.
In connection with fraudulent SAP #1, Rush directed an independent subcontractor to establish a holding company and a corresponding bank account. This company would be used to acquire luxury real estate in South Florida for “sensitive government purposes.”
At Rush’s direction, a company that contracted with the U.S. government transferred approximately $145 million to the holding company. He then directed those funds to be used for the “acquisition, renovation, improvement, and contemplated resale of luxury real estate.”
The real estate properties included the following:
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A parcel of land at 243 Seaspray Ave. in Palm Beach, which was purchased in December 2025 for $13.9 million.
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A home at 236 Via Las Brisas in Palm Beach, which was purchased in December 2025 for $22.9 million.
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A home at 311 Polmer Park Road in Palm Beach, which was purchased in January 2026 for $27 million.
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A parcel of land at 511 South Beach Road in Hobe Sound, purchased in February 2026 for $40 million.
In addition to the real estate, Rush used the acquired funds to purchase a BMW Alpina XB7 vehicle, which cost approximately $172,232, and multiple luxury watches, four of which cost approximately $63,700.
When Rush’s scheme was uncovered in May 2026, approximately $39 million of the original $145 million remained in the bank account of the holding company.
As a further part of his scheme, Rush also acquired hundreds of gold bars using government funds. He falsely represented to a different government contracting company that a “highly sensitive government assignment” required substantial amounts of valuable assets.
The company acquired 298 gold bars, costing the government approximately $46,361,721, based on the value of gold at the time, the statement of facts says.
The gold bars were delivered to Rush’s office in Loudoun County, VA, and placed in a safe at his direction. He also obtained both United States and foreign currency by falsely representing that it was required for official government purposes.
When the FBI executed a search warrant of Rush’s Virginia home, it found $2,106,550 in U.S. currency, 104,795 euros, over 30 watches, including Rolexes, and 298 gold bars, which matched the serial numbers recorded by the contracting company during acquisition.
In total, Rush knowingly caused approximately $193,590,400 in loss of U.S. government funds, according to his signed plea agreement and the statement of facts filed by prosecutors.
Rush pleaded guilty in an Oct. 6 filing.
“I hereby stipulate that the above Statement of Facts is true and accurate, and that had the matter proceeded to trial, the United States would have proved the same beyond a reasonable doubt,” reads the signed statement.
Rush’s attorney, Jessica N. Carmichael of Carmichael Ellis & Brock, a boutique law firm in Alexandria, VA, declined to comment when reached by Realtor.com.
Rush is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 28, 2027. He faces up to 20 years in prison and three years of supervised release. He also faces a fine, restitution, and forfeiture of the gold bars, currency, and fraudulently obtained properties and purchases, according to the press release.
