Former Fauci adviser David Morens pleaded guilty to concealing federal records during the pandemic
Morens admitted using personal Gmail to evade FOIA and Federal Records Act requirements
The case involved efforts over a bat coronavirus grant and alleged illegal gratuities
David Morens, a former senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the US government by concealing federal records during the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Department of Justice said.
Morens, 78, served as a senior adviser in NIAID's Office of the Director from 2006 to 2022. According to his guilty plea, he and two co-conspirators agreed to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and the Federal Records Act by using his personal Gmail account instead of his official government email for communications about coronavirus research grants.
Bat Coronavirus Grant
The case centred on the NIH's termination of a grant called Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence, which involved a subaward to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
The Justice Department said the grant was terminated after allegations that COVID-19 had emerged from the WIV. According to Morens' guilty plea, he and a co-conspirator then agreed to help restore the grant and counter the narrative that the virus had leaked from a laboratory.
They used Morens' personal email to exchange non-public NIH information, discuss efforts to influence the agency to fund the company involved in the grant and draft letters to NIH leadership.
The Justice Department said these communications fell within Morens' official responsibilities and therefore constituted federal records that were required to be created, maintained and exchanged on government systems.
Alleged Gratuities
Morens also admitted conspiring with one of the individuals to receive illegal gratuities.
The Justice Department said the co-conspirator gave Morens wine for his "behind-the-scenes shenanigans" and arranged for it to be delivered to his Maryland home. Morens then identified an official act he could perform to "deserve" the gift by writing a scientific commentary for a prominent medical journal advocating that COVID-19 had natural origins.
The co-conspirator also offered additional benefits, including meals at Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, New York and Washington, according to the Justice Department.
Morens faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for conspiracy to commit offences and defraud the United States. His actual sentence will be determined by a federal judge after consideration of federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
The guilty plea concerns the concealment of federal records and related conduct. It does not, by itself, establish the origin of COVID-19.
