🧵United States v. Rush
David Rush is a former Senior Executive Service (SES) and CIA employee.
He was arrested last week on a complaint charging him with theft of public money.
But there's a bit more going on here.
It is not known when Rush stopped working for the CIA or why, but we know from the affidavit that he requested and received "a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses" between November 2025 and March 2026.
So his employment must have run at least until then.
At some point, I'm guessing between March and early May, the CIA began an investigation/review of what Rush was up to.
They were "unable to locate the gold bars or significant amounts of the foreign currency Rush received pursuant to his requests or to identify the intended use of these funds."
CIA Director Ratcliffe referred the matter to the FBI.
The FBI's investigation "revealed that Rush provided false information about his education and military service on his application to the [CIA] and fraudulently took military leave after he separated from the military."
The FBI asked the Defense Personnel Records Information Retrieval Service (DPRIS) and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) about David Rush.
Records showed that Rush enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1997 and was honorably discharged from the Navy Reserves in February 2015.
Put a mental pin in that.
Rush applied to the CIA three times between 2006 and 2009.
His FIRST application said he had earned
- Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Information Systems from Clemson
- Master of Science in Computing Technology from RPI
- Master of Science in Computing Technology from the Naval Postgraduate School
His SECOND application said he had earned
- Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Information Systems from Clemson
- Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from RPI
And there was no mention of a Masters from Naval Postgrad
His THIRD application said he had earned
- Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Information Systems from Clemson
- Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from RPI
- Aircraft Test and Evaluation certification from the United States Naval Test Pilot School
This app was accepted.
When he applied for TS/SCI, he stated he had earned
- Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Information Systems from Clemson
- Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from RPI
And when he applied for the Senior Executive Service in 2018, Rush stated "he was a graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School, and he was the current Director of Test for a 145-person, 18-aircraft joint Army/Navy weapons test organization [and that] he had an eleven-year tenure as a Thesis/Dissertation advisor at the Air Force Institute of Technology."
Yeah, those were lies.
Rush never went to Clemson, never went to RPI, and was never a pilot in the Navy.
Rush doesn't have any pilot certifications or licensing.
"Federal employee salaries are determined by a number of factors, including the employee’s education level."
Submitting false information on your education background to a federal employer is a no-no.
As we learned earlier, "Rush was honorably discharged on February 1,2015, as an 0-3 Lieutenant. The investigation has revealed that RUSH, through at least on or about September 2025, represented to the USG that he was in the U.S. Navy Reserves at the rank of 0-6 (Captain)."
And claimed 744 of military leave on his timesheet.
This means that, through the false representation above, he has stolen approximately $77k in compensation.
But what about all that gold and foreign currency?
The FBI searched Rush's home on May 18, 2026.
They seized:
- 303 gold bars worth approximately $40 million
- $2 million in cash
- 35 luxury watches (the value of those could be six to eight figures).
So Rush was charged under 18 USC 641 (theft of public money) and arrested on May 20, 2026.
On May 22 he waived his prelim, bond was denied at that time, and a detention hearing has been scheduled for May 29. Yesterday counsel jointly requested it be rescheduled for June 5.
An indictment, which will surely bring more charges, is inbound.
So uh...
A Navy reservist, an infosys tech, lied his way into the CIA in 2009, lied about his education to secure a higher pay rate, lied to secure a TS/SCI clearance, lied about his military service to secure a higher pay rate, lied his way about all of the above to get into the SES, and then conned the CIA out of $40mil worth of gold plus millions in cash?
And what work was this con artist turned SES officer doing that resulted him in being handed 303 gold bars plus "a significant quantity of foreign currency" for "work-related expenses"??????
Sources:
NYT
archive.is/XXSwJ
NBC
nbcnews.com/politics/natio…
Complaint
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Affidavit
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
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