Ex-CIA employee accused of stealing from agency is ordered to remain in jail ahead of trial

By Holmes Lybrand, Zachary Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — A former senior CIA official whose case made headlines after FBI agents found over $40 million in gold bars in his Virginia home will remain in prison pending a trial in the case, a federal judge ruled Friday.

During Friday’s detention hearing for David Rush, who allegedly lied about his education and military background in applications to join and be promoted within the agency, prosecutors called the former CIA officer a “master manipulator.”

“Mr. Rush is in a world of trouble,” prosecutor Gavin Tisdale told Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday morning — arguing that Rush had the means and motivation to flee. “Mr. Rush simply cannot be trusted.”

Rush has been charged with theft of public money over $77,000 in paid military leave that prosecutors said he was not eligible for, having been honorably discharged in 2015. He has not entered a plea.

Rush’s arrest has prompted a response within the CIA. Several lower level CIA employees have been placed on leave and other more senior officers were reassigned over how they managed Rush’s requests for money or for failing to catch initial internal flags that his requests may not have been a legitimate part of his work, according to a source familiar with the matter.

CNN has reached out to CIA for comment.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, alongside acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel, also briefed top lawmakers on Capitol Hill and President Donald Trump on the case, four sources familiar with the meetings told CNN.

Judge Fitzpatrick said at the Friday hearing that discovery has not been provided at this stage of the case and “the heart of the complaint” against Rush “is essentially false statements” but ultimately found Rush had “the means and the motive” to present a flight risk.

“The government clearly satisfied its burden,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that as more evidence is provided the defense they could file a motion to reconsider the detention order.

According to the FBI’s affidavit, Rush lied about his educational background as well as his military service during several applications to the CIA, including in one application for advancement.

“We are here on a single charge of timecard fraud,” Rush’s attorney, Jessica Carmichael, argued Friday, noting that all the gold bars — which brought national attention to the case — were accounted for in Rush’s basement, locked in a safe.

“The gold bars requested and approved are all accounted for,” his attorney said, noting the CIA had given her client the gold for work and that he has not been charged over those requested funds.

Tisdale said Rush “was not supposed to have that sort of funds in his home” and while the FBI finding all the gold bars “might be good news for Mr. Rush,” the case against him gets stronger “every day.”

In addition to his request for the gold bars, which prosecutors said were improperly stored at his home, Rush also requested a significant amount of foreign currency, prosecutors said, much of which remains unaccounted for.

“It is not the defense’s job” to account for the foreign currency, Carmichael said, adding that she is acting with a “blindfold on” over the “new sensational accusations” from the morning’s sealed hearing.

The public portion of the hearing followed a closed-door session that lasted 40 minutes where the judge heard more evidence from the government about the case.

Tisdale also said Rush had purchased commodities that can help make funds and purchases harder to uncover, including the 35 luxury watches seized from his home in May.

Carmichael argued that while “some of these claims” against her client “sound bizarre and secretive,” the very nature of the CIA and its work is often “bizarre and secretive.”

Rush’s attorney also told the judge she needs the prosecutors to tell her “the specific protocols that are required” to obtain the funds Rush kept.

Carmichael concluded by arguing the gold bars were now a “non-issue” and that the government’s case for detention rested on “vague allegations.”

This story was updated with reporting from the hearing.

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