Former CIA Officer Reaches Tentative Plea Deal in Gold Bars Case
Federal prosecutors have reached a tentative plea agreement with former CIA officer David Rush, who was found in May with 303 gold bars worth more
Federal prosecutors have reached a tentative plea agreement with former CIA officer David Rush, who was found in May with 303 gold bars worth more than $40 million at his home. The court filing Friday asks for more time before an indictment deadline, a sign the case may never reach trial.
The Justice Department and Rush’s lawyer said they have a “plea agreement in principle” and need extra time to finish the paperwork, including an agreed statement of facts. They asked a federal judge in Virginia to push the deadline to Oct. 8 from Sept. 17.
What the filing says
Prosecutors said moving ahead with an indictment and trial would likely mean heavy litigation over classified material. That issue has made the case unusually sensitive from the start. The filing did not say what charges Rush might eventually plead to.
Rush was formally charged in a criminal complaint with theft of public funds, based on allegations that he falsified pay records. That complaint has not yet been presented to a federal grand jury. The parties said a pre-indictment resolution would conserve government and judicial resources.
One detail still hangs over the case. Federal investigators said they found not just the gold bars, but also about $2 million in cash and 35 luxury watches, many of them Rolexes, during a search of his home.
A case that keeps widening
Rush, a former executive service-level employee at the CIA, was fired after the allegations surfaced. The unusual hoard drew attention well beyond the Justice Department, and it has also put scrutiny on senior national security officials as the investigation moved ahead.
The treasure-like stash, hidden in a basement, is the kind of discovery that sounds fictional. It wasn’t.
The judge had previously said there would be no extension past Sept. 17, making the new request a key test of how far prosecutors and defense lawyers can go in settling the matter before an indictment. What comes next will depend on whether the court grants the extra three weeks and whether both sides can lock down the final terms of the plea.
