A former senior adviser at the federal agency once led by Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded guilty Tuesday to a conspiracy charge stemming from efforts to conceal government records involving COVID-19 research grants and the origins of the pandemic.
David M. Morens, 78, pleaded guilty in US District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and defraud the United States, according to the Justice Department.
Morens served as a senior adviser in the Office of the Director at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 2006 through 2022, a period during which Fauci served as NIAID director.
As part of the plea agreement, federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss four additional charges from an April indictment involving the alleged destruction, alteration, concealment or removal of federal records.
According to a joint stipulation of facts, the conspiracy stretched from approximately April 2020 through at least June 2023 and centered partly on government records concerning a controversial coronavirus research grant.
The National Institutes of Health had awarded the grant, titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,” to a New York-based nonprofit in 2014. The Wuhan Institute of Virology received funding through a subaward.
NIH later terminated the grant following allegations surrounding the possibility that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan laboratory.
Federal prosecutors said Morens and others subsequently conspired to hide records concerning the grant and other COVID-related matters from public scrutiny.
“The Defendant, DAVID M. MORENS, plus Co-Conspirator 1, Co-Conspirator 2, and others conspired to defraud and commit offenses against the United States by hiding from public view various federal records related to this significant historical event and during this emergency period,” the stipulation states.
According to prosecutors, Morens and his alleged co-conspirators sought to obstruct the government’s compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and Federal Records Act.
The group allegedly agreed to communicate through Morens’ personal Gmail account rather than his official NIH email account in anticipation of potential FOIA requests.
Those communications included non-public NIH information, discussions about restoring funding to the nonprofit and information that was “back-channel[ed]” to a senior NIAID official.
Court documents describe that senior official as “Senior NIAID Official 1.” Contemporary reporting cited in the source identifies that individual as Fauci.
In one email following the grant’s termination, Morens instructed recipients to respond through his Gmail account and wrote that the senior NIAID official “is aware” of ongoing efforts within NIH to navigate the controversy.
Morens also admitted to a conspiracy involving illegal gratuities.
According to court records, one alleged co-conspirator sent Morens two bottles of wine in June 2020 in recognition of what was described as “behind-the-scenes shenanigans.” Additional offers allegedly included meals at Michelin-starred restaurants, according to Trending Politics.
Morens and Fauci both testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in 2024.
Fauci said at the time that Morens did not advise him on “institute policy or other substantive issues” and acknowledged that several of Morens’ actions were wrong and violated agency policy.
Fauci has not been charged in connection with the criminal case.
Morens now faces a maximum statutory sentence of five years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and as many as three years of supervised release.
His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 12.
