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The Central Intelligence Agency is built on a foundation of secrecy that is designed to keep the rest of the world in the dark when it comes to its operations. However, it appears we’ve gotten a glimpse into some of its inner workings thanks to a former employee who was recently busted for stashing a massive stash of gold bars and cash in his home in Virginia.
The CIA was officially founded in 1947 as the successor to the Office of Strategic Services, which was formed to oversee espionage efforts during World War II.
The agency is based in Langley, Virginia but is known for meddling in matters around the globe in an attempt to further the interests of the United States with the help of the agents who conduct operations that include (but are by no means limited to) orchestrating coups, carrying out assassinations, and general destabilization.
The agency relies on its employees to maintain the veil of silence that’s essential to its existence to the point where it does not disclose how many people actually work for it in some capacity.
It also operates on a “black budget” that prevents the public from getting a look at its expenditures, but it would appear it’s possible to get tens of millions of dollars’ worth of gold to cover “work-related expenses” based on the case of a former executive who was recently arrested.
The FBI busted an ex-CIA employee who they say was sitting on 303 gold bars worth over $40 million
Almost all of my knowledge about how things work at the CIA comes from movies that revolve around the agency, and if those films are to be believed, it is no stranger to funneling massive amounts of money into other countries to facilitate a project.
Those transactions can revolve around a number of different forms of currency, including the gold bars that have landed a former employee in hot water after they were recently discovered inside his home.
According to The New York Times, George Rush, a “former senior executive service-level employee at a United States government agency,” sources say was the CIA, was recently targeted by the FBI in a case that led to that agency acting on a tip it received from his one-time employer.
Federal agents reportedly raided his home in Virginia on May 18th and stumbled upon 303 gold bars weighing a kilogram each, which have a value of around $44 million based on the price of that precious metal as of this writing. That wasn’t all, as they also discovered $2 million in American currency as well as “nearly three dozen luxury watches” (primarily Rolexes).
The outlet reports the bust was staged after Rush requested “a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses,” and the CIA apparently sensed something was amiss after it was “unable to locate the gold bars or significant amounts of the foreign currency.”
As things currently stand, it appears the only charges Rush is facing involve “stealing public money by filling out fraudulent time sheets,” which seemingly stems from the “tens of thousands of dollars” he allegedly received on military leave after falsely claiming to be a member of the Navy Reserve.
However, it does not seem like a stretch to suggest more could be coming given the evidence at hand.