An ex-CIA officer. Nearly 300 bars of gold. And four properties in Palm Beach.
What do they all have in common? They’re part of former CIA officer David J. Rush’s $193 million fraud scheme. Rush pleaded guilty this month to defrauding the federal government. He used those funds to buy three homes on Palm Beach Island, plus land a little farther north on Jupiter Island for nearly $103 million. An estimated $46 million in gold bars, 35 luxury watches and two 2026 BMW Alpina cars were among his ill-gotten gains.
He’s facing up to 20 years in prison.
It’s an “only in South Florida” story.
All four properties are now for sale. The real estate is owned by entities registered to West Palm Beach real estate attorney Maura Ziska of Kochman and Ziska, who often appears on the buy side of multimillion-dollar deals in Palm Beach.
As part of Rush’s scheme, he created a fake government operation that required special security clearance to enter, and then conned people into wiring money used to buy the properties.
In May, when the FBI searched Rush’s home in Virginia, they found 298 gold bars (weighing 660 pounds by our estimation), $2.1 million in cash, about 105,000 in euros and the Rolex collection.
Rush was probably right about one thing: the price appreciation of Palm Beach real estate. The prices he paid for the four South Florida properties are below what they are all asking, though not by much, since the majority of Rush’s purchases closed this year. Two of the homes have contracts pending. Top Palm Beach broker Christian Angle is listing the properties on behalf of the federal government.
What we’re thinking about: Russell Galbut withdrew his Live Local applications in Miami Beach amid an uproar, but he’s not giving up. What’s next for those project sites? Send me a note at kk@therealdeal.com.
Residential: Jacek and Olga Skarzynski of Maven Construction Corp. sold a Miami Beach spec mansion at 1413 North Venetian Way to Casa Nova Trust, with trustee Charu Madan, for $48.5 million. The Real Deal reported the buyer is venture capital billionaire Hemant Taneja.
Commercial:Jacksonville-based nonprofit Affordable Housing Preservation Corporation bought the Lapis student apartments at 795 Southwest 110th Avenue in Miami’s Sweetwater from Toll Brothers for $168.5 million using bond funding.
— Research by Mary Diduch
A planned waterfront spec mansion in Fort Lauderdale listed for $100 million, or about $6,590 per square foot. Included with the property at 708 Royal Plaza Drive is Deerfield-based Bomar Builders’ plans for a 15,200-square-foot, seven-bedroom mansion on the 0.9-acre property. The lot last sold for $24.8 million in 2023, property records show. Heather Lefka of Florida Luxurious Properties has the listing. — Alissa Gary
Billionaire developer and Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross has a deal to sell a stake in the NFL team and its affiliated businesses, including the Hard Rock Stadium and Miami’s Formula 1 Grand Prix. The buyer of the 2.1 percent stake is Chilean billionaire financier Jean Eric Salata, according to the South Florida Business Journal. Xiaomi co-founder Lin Bin, Ares Management, and Nets owners Joe Tsai and Oliver Weisberg also recently bought shares in the team, which is estimated to be worth over $12.5 billion.
— Alissa Gary
- Construction on Ken Griffin’s new Citadel headquarters in Brickell resumed last week, following a drill-rig collapse on the site that sent four to the hospital, the Miami Herald reported. The county paused work on the property in September following the accident and reviewed a modified safety plan before green-lighting its continuation.
- Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz took to X attempting to publicly identify two women who filed a federal lawsuit accusing him of participating in a sex trafficking scheme, according to the Miami Herald reported. He posted a photo of three women in bikinis, naming one directly, though he told the newspaper he wasn’t sure she was the lawsuit’s Jane Doe.
- Home services company Strada Services said it’ll inspect and fix properties affected by faulty electrics following Central Florida homeowners’ lawsuit accusing the builder of using cheaper, unapproved electrical substitutes, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
- The Tampa City Council approved funding a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium in the city’s Drew Park neighborhood, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The vote allows the city to issue bonds to pay for its $80 million contribution toward the $2.3 billion stadium project.
— Alissa Gary
