Federal prosecutors have reached a tentative plea agreement with David Rush, a former CIA officer accused of stealing hundreds of gold bars valued at over $40m from the US spy agency. Court records indicate that Mr Rush and federal justice department prosecutors have a “plea agreement in principle”.
The parties have requested a judge to extend the 17 September deadline for three weeks, through 8 October, to allow time to “resolve the matter prior to an indictment”. Assistant US attorney Raizza Ty and Mr Rush’s attorney, Jessica Carmichael, stated in a joint filing that additional time is needed to prepare paperwork, including an agreed-upon statement of facts.
Mr Rush, a former executive service-level employee for the CIA, was reportedly fired after allegedly taking 303 bullion bars, each weighing 2.2lb (1kg), and more than $2m in foreign currency from his government office. An FBI affidavit states that a search of his Virginia home also uncovered 35 luxury watches, many of them Rolex.
He was arrested on 19 May and charged with one count of stealing public money. He is also alleged to have falsified his educational qualifications and military service to secure his job with the CIA, and to have submitted fraudulent timecards to claim approximately $77,000 in compensation for military leave he was not entitled to. Investigators reportedly discovered details of a fake classified program Mr Rush had set up, through which he requested the gold bars and foreign money as “work-related expenses”.
Mr Rush has been held in custody since his arrest after being deemed a flight risk. He had been a CIA agent for 17 years and served in the agency’s science and technology division.