David Rush, a CIA officer, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and admitted in court that he disclosed descriptive information about a clandestine U.S. human source to a foreign official. The plea hearing made public a national-security admission tied to a case in which Justice Department officials said he siphoned off $194 million in government funds.
Judge Michael Nachmanoff approved the plea deal on Tuesday, and Rush faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 28. Rush has been in jail since his arrest on May 19.
David Rush in U.S. District Court
Rush, 49, entered the plea under an agreement with federal prosecutors. The plea document said he admitted disclosing “certain descriptive information of a U.S. government clandestine human source,” and that the disclosure could “endanger the safety and life of the human source and the U.S. government officers working with the source.”
The same document said the disclosure could damage the “ability to recruit human sources, who rely on the U.S. government’s assurance of absolute secrecy.” That turns the case from a financial fraud prosecution into one with direct intelligence consequences for how the United States protects and uses human sources.
Justice Department allegations
Justice Department officials said Rush siphoned off $194 million in government funds. Court documents said he fabricated a highly classified program to funnel tens of millions of dollars for his personal purchase of luxury real estate in Florida, and that he invented a sensitive government activity to acquire gold bars.
Investigators said Rush made up details about his education and military service record. They also said he worked as a top officer at the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology and as a liaison to the Pentagon for sensitive military programs before he was placed on leave and then fired.
Search of Rush’s home
During the search of his home, federal officials seized about 300 gold bars, about $2 million in U.S. currency, and 35 luxury watches. Investigators initially said they found 303 bars, then revised the figure on Tuesday to 298 bars.
The plea hearing leaves Rush facing sentencing on Jan. 28 with one fraud count already resolved, while the court record now includes an admission that reaches into the handling of a clandestine source. The unresolved piece is the foreign official who received the information and the extent of any damage from that disclosure.
