A long-time advisor to Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge this week, admitting he helped keep government communications about COVID research grants out of the reach of public records laws.
The Plea
As reported in Thursday’s AM Update, Dr. David Morens worked as a senior advisor in the office of the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Fauci from 2006 through 2022. The Justice Department announced the 78 year old pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to commit offenses and defraud the United States.
According to his guilty plea, the scheme developed after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) terminated a grant studying the emergence of bat coronaviruses. That grant had been awarded to a nonprofit that sent some of the money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Prosecutors alleged Morens and others then worked behind the scenes to help restore the grant and counter the theory that COVID-19 had leaked from a laboratory.
At the same time, they were reportedly anticipating that their communications could become the subject of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Morens admitted he and his co-conspirators agreed to move those conversations onto his personal Gmail account rather than his official government email, intentionally keeping them out of public view.
The DOJ said that private account was then used to exchange non-public NIH information, discuss efforts to influence NIH funding, edit letters being sent to NIH leadership, and pass information through unofficial channels to a senior NIAID official.
The plea documents do not publicly name the other people involved. However, The Washington Post reported previously released congressional records indicate one was Peter Daszak, the former president of EcoHealth Alliance, which received the NIH grant and worked with the Wuhan lab. He has not been charged in the case.
Morens also conceded as part of his plea that he and the co-conspirator believed to be Daszak conspired over illegal gratuities. The Justice Department found Morens received wine as thanks for what was described at the time as his “behind-the-scenes shenanigans,” with additional offers reportedly including meals at Michelin-starred restaurants.
Possible Sentence
Morens is facing up to five years in federal prison, though federal sentences are typically below the statutory maximum and will ultimately be determined by the judge under federal sentencing guidelines. He is scheduled to be sentenced November 12 by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland.
His attorney, Timothy Belevetz, released a statement after the plea, saying it signals “Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did and will continue to do so.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who had also asked the DOJ to investigate Morens over the private emails back in 2024, reacted to Tuesday’s guilty plea on X. “One of Fauci’s fall guys, denied the privilege of an autopen pardon, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit fraud. I want to know who his co-conspirators were and what they knew,” he wrote.
“What does Dr. Fauci have to say about this,” Paul added. “Was he involved?”
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