Gold

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A former senior CIA official accused of stashing more than $40 million worth of gold bars from the federal government at his Virginia home was ordered to remain jailed until his trial after a hearing Friday where a defense attorney accused prosecutors of smearing the official with “sensational,” irrelevant allegations.

The defendant, David J. Rush, has both the means and motive to flee while the case against him is pending, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick ruled, citing Rush’s professional experience.

“He’s in a different position than most people to flee and avoid detection by law enforcement,” Fitzpatrick said.

Rush is charged with fraudulently claiming tens of thousands of dollars in compensation for military leave after he was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 2015. He was arrested last month after investigators searched his home and seized more than 300 gold bars, roughly $2 million in U.S. currency and about 35 luxury watches, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit.

Rush’s attorney, Jessica Carmichael, noted that Rush isn’t charged with any crimes related to the discovery of the gold bars, which she referred to as “basically a non-issue” and “nothing more than a sensational tidbit.” She said Rush properly obtained the gold bars and kept them locked in a safe in his basement.

“Mr. Rush never claimed they were his,” she said.

Between last November and March, Rush requested and received a “significant quantity” of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for “work-related expenses,” according to the FBI affidavit. Justice Department prosecutor Gavin Tisdale said Rush wasn’t supposed to have the gold bars at his home.

“That’s the issue — his skirting of rules and regulations,” he said.

Tisdale briefly summarized the case against Rush in open court after a portion of the hearing was sealed from the public. The evidence against Rush “grows stronger by the day,” Tisdale told the magistrate judge.

“Mr. Rush simply cannot be trusted to abide by this court’s conditions,” he said.

Rush enlisted in the Navy in 1997 and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserves as a lieutenant in 2015, according to the affidavit.

Authorities claim Rush lied about his education and military background on job applications, falsely claiming to be a former Navy pilot who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Clemson University in South Carolina and a master’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

Investigators determined that he didn’t serve as a Navy pilot and didn’t attend either school.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.

May 28 (UPI) — Nicaragua’s government said it will return mining company BHMB Mining to its original owners after the operation was confiscated in September 2025 and later transferred to Chinese firms.

The announcement came from Nicaragua’s Attorney General’s Office and follows what local media and analysts described as efforts by President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo’s government to avoid additional sanctions from the Trump administration.

According to the government, officials reached an agreement with BHMB Inc., a U.S.-British company incorporated in Florida, allowing operations to resume at the BHMB Palacaguina processing plant in northern Nicaragua.

“As a result of a process of dialogue and coordination carried out in an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual respect, an understanding has been reached aimed at the orderly and secure normalization and operational reactivation of the BHMB Palacaguina plant,” the government said in a statement.

The government added that the specific terms and conditions of the agreement remain confidential.

Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa previously reported that authorities seized the facilities in September 2025. The company operated a gold processing plant in northern Nicaragua valued at more than $80 million under a 10-year operating permit.

The owners said that after the expropriation, Nicaraguan authorities transferred the plant to Chinese companies Zhong Fu Development and Santa Rita Mining.

Environmental and Indigenous rights advocate Amaru Ruiz wrote on X that “the Ortega-Murillo regime announces an agreement with BHMB Mining Nicaragua to free itself from the complaint filed before ICSID over the expropriation suffered by the company.”

Ruiz later told Nicaraguan outlet 100% Noticias that the decision represented an unusual reversal by the government. He said the administration “feared losing the case before ICSID” because of growing international pressure and the possibility of economic sanctions.

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, is a World Bank institution that resolves legal disputes between sovereign states and foreign investors.

On April 16, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions targeting individuals and entities tied to Nicaragua’s gold sector.

According to the Treasury Department, the sanctions responded to what it described as the Ortega-Murillo government’s use of the gold industry as a major source of financing for repression and corrupt enrichment of the ruling family.

Nicaraguan journalist Miguel Mendoza said the government’s decision to return the plant to BHMB appeared aimed at avoiding political and economic pressure from the U.S. Congress.

U.S. lawmakers are scheduled to hold a hearing June 4 titled “Confronting the Ortega-Murillo Totalitarian Regime,” focused on democratic backsliding in Nicaragua and rising tensions with Washington.

Mendoza added that BHMB shareholder Baruch Rapoport maintains relationships with figures in the Trump administration, including diplomat Richard Grenell, who served as Trump’s special envoy for Venezuela.

According to Mendoza, those ties may have contributed to recent U.S. sanctions against seven Nicaraguan mining companies, targeting one of the government’s most profitable sectors.

May 28 (UPI) — A former CIA agent is accused of stealing nearly $40 million worth of gold bars and about $2 million in cash from the agency, and lying to the agency about his education, military history and pilot license.

David J. Rush of Virginia, who is described in a criminal complaint as a former senior executive with a top secret clearance, was arrested last week and charged with theft of public funds, The Washington Post, USA Today and NBC News. He also claimed about $77,000 of paid military leave for which he wasn’t entitled.

The FBI searched Rush’s home last week and found 303 gold bars that weighed 2.2 pounds each and are estimated to be worth about $40 million, according to an affidavit written by Special Agent Matthew Johnson, USA Today reported.

The FBI seized the gold from the home along with about $2 million in cash and 35 luxury watches, many of which were Rolexes.

From November 2025 and March 2026, Rush requested and received “a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses,” the affidavit said. When the government visited the storage facility where it was supposed to be stored, most of it was missing. The documents don’t list the reason he needed so much money and gold.

Rush had been in the Navy and was honorably discharged in 2015. But he allegedly told the agency that he was in the reserves for 10 years and took 744 hours of military leave during that time adding up to about $77,000, the affidavit said.

The affidavit alleges that Rush claimed to have a bachelor’s degree from Clemson University and a master’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. An FBI investigation found no record of him attending either school. He also claimed to have been a Navy pilot, but the investigation found no record of that, and the Federal Aviation Administration has no pilot’s license registered to Rush.

Rush is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing, and a detention hearing is set for June 5.

BARBIE actress Margot Robbie stands and delivers in a dandy highwayman outfit.

The Aussie, 35, wore a black tailcoat jacket with gold embroidery — like 1980s singer Adam Ant.

She was attending the London West End premiere of the play 1536 — a drama about three Essex women set in Tudor England during Anne Boleyn’s downfall.

Margot, a producer on the play, said at The Ambassadors Theatre: “The conversations these women have are the same ones that women now are having.”

Earlier this year we revealed how Margot was named the world’s most beautiful woman.

The Aussie beat fellow actress Scarlett Johannson to the honour in the poll organised by website Ranker.

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There were more than seven million votes cast in total.

But the married mum-of-one has not always been convinced about her looks.

She once said: “In my big group of girlfriends at home, I am definitely not the best looking.

“I did not grow up feeling like I was particularly attractive.”

Gaelic Warrior raced clear to claim the Punchestown Gold Cup on Wednesday.

With Paul Townend on board, the 5-6 favourite powered home ahead of stablemates Fact To File (13-8) and Grangeclare West (28-1). All three are trained by Willie Mullins.

It was eight-year-old Gaelic Warrior who got the better of his rival this time after Fact To File’s win in the Irish Gold Cup came following defeat in the John Durkan.

It was another excellent race with Gaelic Warrior making his move in the penultimate jump and storming home with 26 lengths to spare.

“It was a huge performance,” Mullins told RTE Sport.

“My heart was in my mouth when Paul joined him (Fact To File) between the fourth-last and the third-last. I was thinking ‘would they knock one another’ or what would they do? They were going some lick.

“Both jockeys just let fly. Over that trip Gaelic Warrior seemed to have the measure of Fact To File. Over a shorter trip it might be different. It was a hell of a horse race.”

With Nolimit (14-1) came through to win the Grade One Punchestown Champion I.N.H. Flat Race.

Trained by Gordon Elliott and ridden by Josh Halford, the five-year-old got the better of pre-race favourite The Mourne Rambler (11-8) with Boycetown (5-1) third.

In the Novice Hurdle, Le Frimeur (18-1) maintained his unbeaten record to see off Zanoosh (11-4f) and I Started A Joke (11-1).

Wiffen said that he was “already planning” on moving to Dublin even before the Irish Open.

He had targeted a time of seven minutes 42 seconds in the 800m, but came in at 7:58.08 on his way to winning gold in Bangor and also said his performance in the 1500m was “confirmation in my head that I wasn’t in the shape I wanted to be in” and that he should switch to Dublin.

“In 1500m I got to the 1000m mark in a second off PB [personal best] pace and I could feel it fading and it was all down to the training,” he added.

“I wasn’t doing the right type of work I used to do, so when it came to the decision, I sat down with Andy Reid [National Performance Director at Swim Ireland] and talked to him. We had talked of the back-up plan if California didn’t work when he was first appointed, so this was already in the thinking.”

Reflecting on his time in California, Wiffen was critical of the training in the US and says he “feels a lot fitter” since he started training in Dublin.

“In California it felt like you kind of didn’t know what you were doing. You were having to push yourself, there wasn’t much guidance or criticising technique.

“They didn’t want to mess up the Olympic champion is what I felt. They were trying to do what they wanted to do, not what’s good for me.”

Wiffen is now gearing up for a big summer with the Commonwealth Games and European Championships on the horizon and hopes a solid block of training in his new surroundings can get him up to speed to break more records.

“I don’t know how fast I’m going to be in the summer, but I have two benchmark meets before that I can compare to other years.

“I need to see how those go and how the training works. I have eyes on the world record in the summer, but if not I need to readjust some things.”

Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir — The gold earrings were a gift from her father on her birthday just months earlier. But on March 21, as South Asia marked Eid‑ul‑Fitr, Masrat Mukhtar handed them over to an aid collection effort to help civilians in Iran trying to survive the US-Israel war on the country.

She was one of many in Indian-administered Kashmir who paused their customary rituals and celebrations on the auspicious day to contribute cash, household items, and personal assets for a people more than 1,000 miles away.

Her cousins followed, each bringing items of personal value. Families offered copper utensils, livestock, bicycles, and portions of savings. Children broke their piggy banks, sharing savings they had carefully collected over several years. Shopkeepers and traders handed over parts of their earnings.

“We give what we love. This brings us closer to them,” said Mukhtar, a 55-year-old woman from Budgam in the central part of Indian-administered Kashmir, before referring to a name by which the region has historically also been known. “This is what Little Iran does for its namesake. The bond persists through time and conflict.”

That bond, rooted in more than six centuries of historical connections, has taken on a much more overt presence during the war – drawing recognition from Iranian authorities, and concerns over some fund collection methods from Indian officials.

One daughter’s wealth, to another daughter

In Zadibal, a Shia-majority area of Srinagar – the biggest city in Indian-administered Kashmir – 73-year-old Tahera Jan watched neighbours contribute copper pots.

“Kashmiris traditionally collect these utensils for their daughters’ weddings. We chose to give them instead to daughters who lost mothers and sisters in the attacks,” Jan said.

Sadakat Ali Mir, a 24-year-old mini-truck driver, contributed one of the two vehicles he drives for his livelihood. Other contributors offered bicycles, scooters, and other essential items. Children, including nine-year-old Zainab Jan, handed over piggy banks.

To be sure, that Shia constitute between 10 to 15 percent of Indian-administered Kashmir’s population is a factor in why the war in Iran resonates so deeply in the region. But donations for Iran have extended well beyond Shia. Several Sunni families observed simpler Eid meals, redirecting household resources towards Iranian relief. Some shopkeepers closed early, while families adjusted daily routines to contribute.

Political and religious figures also participated. Budgam lawmaker Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi donated a month’s salary to the relief effort. Imran Reza Ansari, a Shia scholar and leader of the People’s Conference party, noted public participation across communities.

Similar donation campaigns in support of Iranians have also been reported from Pakistan, Iraq and other countries.

But at the heart of this outpouring of support for Iran in Indian-administered Kashmir – which also witnessed large rallies after the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28 – are rare cultural ties that Kashmir and what was then Persia have shared for centuries.

‘Little Iran’

Sufi scholar Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani arrived in Kashmir from Hamadan in Iran in the 14th century, introducing religious practices, art forms, and Persian literary traditions. Persian architectural influences appear in historical mosques, and the Persian language has shaped local literature.

Irshad Ahmad, a scholar of Central Asian studies, said donation drives drew on this historical reservoir, with prayers, rituals, and art forms reflecting longstanding ties. Kashmir has historically been referred to as Iran-e-Sagheer, or Little Iran.

The donations carry personal and cultural meaning beyond financial value, said experts. “People are not only parting with objects; they are sharing emotional continuity,” Sakina Hassan, a lecturer on humanitarian practices in New Delhi, said.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in Iran during the war, which is on pause at the moment amid a fragile ceasefire brokered by Pakistan. The first round of direct talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad last week broke down without a deal, and mediators are working on pushing the two sides towards new talks. The ceasefire is set to expire next Wednesday.

Millions in donations

The scope of donations from Kashmir is significant. Estimates from local authorities place the value of contributions at up to six billion rupees ($64m), including cash, gold, jewellery, household items, livestock, and vehicles.

Collection points in Srinagar, Budgam, Baramulla – another major city – and the region’s northern districts were staffed by volunteers documenting donations.

Small contributions, including coins, piggy banks, and utensils, make up a large portion of total aid in terms of volume. Syed Asifi, a volunteer managing central Srinagar collections, said even individuals with limited means brought what they could.

Medical kits were assembled by local doctors, and supply drives were organised by students and educational institutions based on assessed needs in Iran.

The Iranian embassy in New Delhi acknowledged contributions in a post on X: “We sincerely thank the kind people of Kashmir for standing with the people of Iran through their humanitarian support and heartfelt solidarity; this kindness endures.” A video shared by the embassy showed a widow donating gold she had kept as a memento of her husband, who died 28 years ago.

That post was subsequently pulled down by the embassy, though the mission later posted again, thanking the people of India and Kashmir.

The embassy added that Kashmir’s contributions constitute a substantial portion of donations from India, with local sources estimating the Valley’s share at more than 40 percent of the total.

Security concerns

But while the majority of donations are directed towards humanitarian purposes, Indian authorities have raised concerns about potential misuse. Jammu and Kashmir Police and the State Investigative Agency (SIA) have said some funds collected through door-to-door drives by unverified individuals could be diverted to local networks of separatists and armed groups.

“People depositing money directly to the Iranian embassy should not be worried,” said a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Collections by middlemen without transparent monitoring may not reach the intended recipients.”

Authorities have also asked volunteers to maintain records to ensure compliance with fundraising regulations.

There’s a reason for this concern, say Indian authorities.

They point to the example of 2023, where funds collected in southern Kashmir – ostensibly for humanitarian purposes – were allegedly instead funnelled towards rebel groups. Organisers of the Kashmir drives for Iran maintain that all efforts are humanitarian.