A former senior adviser to Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal conspiracy charge related to efforts to conceal communications concerning COVID-19 research grants and the origins of the pandemic.
David M. Morens, 78, of Chester, Maryland, entered the guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, before Judge Paula Xinis. He admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371.
In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to drop four other charges that had been included in an April 2026 indictment. Those original counts involved destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal, or mutilation of records; and related aiding and abetting allegations.
Morens served as a senior adviser in NIAID’s Office of the Director from 2006 through 2022. During that period, NIAID was directed by Fauci. In the stipulation of facts accompanying the plea agreement, Morens is described as having worked as a Senior Advisor to Senior NIAID Official 1. Court filings and contemporaneous reporting indicate that this official was Fauci.
The stipulation states that Morens “gathered information from grantees and others in the scientific community to establish facts regarding the nature of COVID-19, to understand NIH and NIAID’s historical activities in coronavirus research, to assist in formulating policy and procedures, and to brief Senior NIAID Official 1 and assist Senior NIAID Official 1 in briefing others, including the President of the United States, Congress, and the public.”
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After an FBI investigation with our DOJ partners, Dr. Fauci’s associate, David Morens, just pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a scheme to avoid FOIA requests and the Federal Records Act connected to COVID-19 research grants.
The FBI uncovered that Morens, Co-Conspirator 1,… pic.twitter.com/IR7TCUm10m
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) August 18, 2026
According to the joint stipulation of facts agreed to by Morens and federal prosecutors, the conspiracy began in or about April 2020 and continued through at least June 2023.
It arose after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) terminated a grant titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.” The grant had been awarded in 2014 to a New York-based nonprofit organization identified in court documents as Company #1; its president and chief executive officer is identified as Co-Conspirator 1. The Wuhan Institute of Virology in China had received a subaward under the grant. NIH terminated the award following allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the laboratory.
“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 reads in part.
It further specifies that the defendants agreed “to defraud the United States by hampering, hindering, impeding, or obstructing, by craft, trickery, deceit or dishonest means, the lawful and legitimate functions of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), or NIAID in complying with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Federal Records Act (FRA).”
Prosecutors and the stipulation detail that, in anticipation of FOIA requests, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, and Co-Conspirator 2 agreed in writing to correspond using Morens’s personal Gmail account rather than his official NIH email account. This method was used to exchange non-public NIH information, discuss efforts to influence NIH to restore funding to Company #1, exchange edits to draft letters addressed to NIH leadership, and “back-channel” information to Senior NIAID Official 1. The communications concerned COVID-19 and its origins as well as the terminated grant.
“This is sent from my gmail account. Please send all replies here To gmail […] There are things I cant say except [Senior NIAID Official 1] is aware and I have learned that there are ongoing efforts within NIH to steer through this with minimal damage to you, [Co-Conspirator 1], and colleagues, and to nih and niaid,” reads one email sent by Morens shortly after the grant’s termination.
The plea also includes an admission that Morens and Co-Conspirator 1 conspired regarding illegal gratuities. Court records state that Co-Conspirator 1 provided Morens with two bottles of wine in June 2020, delivered to his Maryland residence, in recognition of “behind-the-scenes shenanigans.” Co-Conspirator 1 also indicated willingness to provide additional items of value, such as meals at Michelin-starred restaurants.
Long-time Fauci ally pleads guilty. Could his plea involve implicating Anthony Fauci?
District of Maryland | Former Senior NIAID Official Pleads Guilty to Charges Connected to Concealing Federal Records During COVID-19 Pandemic | United States DoJ https://t.co/9cpTjERjuC
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 18, 2026
The maximum statutory penalty for the conspiracy count is five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for November 12, 2026.
In 2024, both Morens and Fauci appeared before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. At that time, Fauci stated that Morens was not an adviser to him on “institute policy or other substantive issues” and acknowledged that many of Morens’s actions were wrong and violated agency policy. Fauci has not been charged in connection with this case.
The co-conspirators referenced in the filings have not been charged. A report from CBS News identified Co-Conspirator 1 as Peter Daszak of EcoHealth Alliance and Co-Conspirator 2 as a physician and scientist associated with an academic institution that received other NIH funding.
