Dr. David Morens, a former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and defraud the United States, as stated in federal court documents. Morens was indicted in April and faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. The charges stem from allegations that he concealed evidence related to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and used his personal email to conduct official business to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests.
The House Oversight Committee's Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic began investigating Morens in 2023 after discovering his use of personal email for official communications. In 2021, he instructed colleagues to use his personal email to circumvent FOIA, stating he would delete any information he did not want to be publicly disclosed.
The investigation revealed Morens had a close relationship with Dr. Peter Daszak, head of EcoHealth Alliance, which received government funding for research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This research has been linked to the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, by some who dispute the animal-to-human transmission theory.
Morens and two co-conspirators were charged with concealing records regarding a $3.1 million grant related to bat coronavirus research, which included a $600,000 sub-award to the Wuhan lab. Authorities allege they worked together to reinstate the grant and counter the narrative suggesting COVID-19 resulted from a lab leak.
While Daszak is not named in Morens's plea agreement, it references a co-conspirator who authored an email confirming that EcoHealth Alliance personnel would communicate with Morens using personal email. The plea agreement indicates that Morens and his co-conspirators planned to conceal federal records to evade FOIA requests.
Dr. Fauci, who was the face of the federal COVID-19 response, has downplayed his relationship with Morens, stating he should not have used personal emails for government business. However, they co-authored over 50 scientific papers during Morens's tenure at the agency from 2006 to 2022, and Morens briefed Fauci before key White House Coronavirus Task Force meetings. In July, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a Senate committee appearance, where he faced contempt charges for refusing to testify despite a pardon from former President Joe Biden.