A senior intelligence operative accused of stealing hundreds of gold bars worth more than $40m and hiding them at home remained in custody in Virginia on Friday after a judge pushed his first court appearance to next week.

David Rush, a former executive service-level employee for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) , is alleged to have taken 303 bullion bars, each weighing 2.2lb (1kg), and more than $2m in foreign currency, from his government office, according to an eight-page FBI affidavit .

He was arrested last week and charged with stealing public money after a search warrant executed at his home “in the eastern district of Virginia” also turned up 35 luxury watches, many of them Rolex.

“On or around November 2025 through on or around March 2026, Rush made several requests to the [United States government] to obtain a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses,” FBI special agent Matthew Johnson wrote in the criminal complaint,…