A former top aide to Dr. Anthony Fauci has pleaded guilty in a case tied to efforts to hide professional correspondence from public scrutiny during inquiries into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. David Morens, 78, of Chester, Maryland, entered a guilty plea Tuesday to conspiracy to commit offenses against and defraud the United States.
Under the agreement reached with the Department of Justice, Morens could face up to five years in prison.
As part of the plea, he admitted that a co-conspirator provided him with wine and offered Michelin-starred dining experiences in exchange for his help concealing their communications.
The DOJ indicted Morens in April on five counts connected to an alleged scheme to defraud the US by conspiring to conceal emails related to the pandemic’s origins.
Morens had initially pleaded not guilty in May, but later changed his position and accepted the plea deal.
He served as a senior adviser to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 2006 through 2022.
Fauci, who advised both President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden during the pandemic, led NIAID from 1984 until 2022.
Dr David Morens (L), the former advisor to Dr Anthony Fauci, pled guilty to defrauding the US after purposefully concealing professional correspondence about the origins of COVID-19 on his personal email account. He faces up to five years in prison
Morens bragged to one of his co-conspirators, Dr Peter Daszak, that he learned how to make emails disappear. He notably used his official NIH signature at the bottom while using his personal Gmail account
Dr David Morens apologized to lawmakers for intentionally deleting his emails about COVID-19 while serving as Dr Anthony Fauci’s top advisor and for making misogynistic comments about former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky during a May 22, 2024, congressional hearing
‘By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did and will continue to do so,’ said his lawyer, Tim Belevetz.
Morens pled that he, two co-conspirators and others conspired to defraud the US after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) terminated a grant awarded to ‘Co-Conspirator 1’ and the former Fauci aide pledged to help reinstate the funding.
Co-Conspirator 1 is known to be Dr Peter Daszak, the former president of EcoHealth Alliance, whose NIH grant for Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence was canceled after allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which received an NIAID subaward from Daszak.
After the grant was terminated, Morens and ‘Co-Conspirator 2,’ known to be Gerald Keusch, a former employee of Boston University’s infectious disease lab, pledged to reinstate the funding to counter the narrative that COVID-19 leaked from the WIV.
Though the DOJ did not name Daszak or Keusch, congressional investigators previously revealed their identities.
Anticipating that his work email could be searched by Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, Morens, Daszak and Keusch agreed in writing to purposefully conceal their communications from the public by using personal emails, rather than the former Fauci aide’s government email.
Using his personal Gmail account as a ‘back-channel,’ Morens sent non-public information to Daszak and Keusch.
Court documents show that these matters fell within Morens’ professional capacity, meaning the correspondence needed to be created and maintained on government systems.
Dr Anthony Fauci led the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination over 100 times while testifying before Congress last month
Morens said in emails Fauci and NIH colleagues would ‘protect’ Dr Peter Daszak, who used US taxpayer money to research gain-of-function in Wuhan
David Morens leaves the US District Court following his May arraignment on felony charges alleging he concealed communications related to virus research from Freedom of Information Act requests May 8, 2026 in Greenbelt, Maryland. He originally pled his innocence, but has since pled guilty after reaching a deal with the DOJ
Morens admitted that Daszak conspired to pay ‘illegal gratuities’ for his concealment efforts.
The former Fauci adviser received wine from Daszak for ‘behind-the-scenes shenanigans,’ according to the DOJ, known to be his shady efforts to help Daszak reinstate his grant funding.
The former EcoHealth Alliance boss also suggested he would provide Morens with meals at Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, New York and Washington, DC, according to the DOJ.
Morens’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for November.
Fauci has not been charged with any wrongdoing in Morens’ case. Neither Daszak nor Keusch have been charged with crimes.
Morens testified before Congress in 2024 that he learned how to make controversial internal agency correspondence ‘disappear.’
The former Fauci advisor’s subpoenaed emails show that Morens said he ‘learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear,’ meaning he had a way to help them avoid scrutiny under the FOIA.
Dr Peter Daszak, the former president of EcoHealth Alliance, testified before Congress in May 2024
Using subaward grant money, EcoHealth Alliance, a New York nonprofit, funded gain-of-function research at the Chinese Wuhan lab where COVID-19 is believed to have escaped from, lawmakers have alleged.
Taxpayer funds supported Daszak’s research.
Fauci testified before Congress last month, during which he invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination over 100 separate times.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Republican Senator Rand Paul, voted earlier this month to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress for his refusal to answer questions.
Paul has since asked the DOJ to pursue charges against Fauci.
The Daily Mail contacted Fauci’s lawyer for comment.
