The former CIA official who allegedly convinced the agency to send him $40 million in gold bars was a liaison for one of the military’s most highly classified nuclear sub programs — and was handpicked for the plum position, according a new report.
David Rush, 49, who was arrested in May at his Virginia home after an FBI raid that turned up 300 one-kilogram gold bars, $2 million in US currency and dozens of Rolex watches, was tasked with secret maritime programs at the Pentagon, a US official confirmed to NBC News.
In his apparent role, which the outlet said Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg asked him to take on, Rush was in communications with the Navy’s director of submarines, who is overseeing the next-generation breed of Columbia-class subs.
The program is one of the most highly classified in all of the military, a second official told the outlet.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called the allegations Feinberg gave the nod to Rush for the job “completely false and embellished.”
Feinberg has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the matter.
Court documents alleged that the FBI’s investigation revealed Rush provided false information about his education and military service for decades — using each lie to attain progressively higher positions in the military and government.
He also allegedly used his position to put in requests through CIA channels for tens of millions worth of gold bars, which he claimed he needed “for work purposes,” but the agency was unable to find any record of Rush substantiating the work-related purpose for the enormous sums.
Rush’s lawyer did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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