By A longtime senior adviser to Anthony Fauci has pleaded guilty to conspiring to hide federal records about taxpayer-funded coronavirus research, turning years of congressional allegations about secret emails and disappearing government records into an admitted federal crime.
David M. Morens, 78, who served as a senior adviser in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director’s office from 2006 through 2022, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Maryland to conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States. He faces up to five years in prison.
The guilty plea is the latest development in a story New Conservative Post reported in April, when the Justice Department first charged Morens with conspiring to evade Freedom of Information Act requests and concealing records related to COVID-19 research and EcoHealth Alliance. At the time, the allegations rested on an indictment and years of congressional investigations. Morens has now admitted to participating in the conspiracy.
The case centers on one of the most explosive controversies left over from the pandemic: federal funding for coronavirus research connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and efforts inside the public-health bureaucracy to counter the theory that COVID-19 escaped from a laboratory.
According to Morens’ guilty plea, the conspiracy began after the National Institutes of Health terminated a grant titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.” The grant was awarded to EcoHealth Alliance, which provided a subaward to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. NIH terminated the grant in 2020 amid allegations that COVID-19 may have emerged from the Wuhan lab.
Prosecutors said Morens, “Co-Conspirator 1,” “Co-Conspirator 2” and others conspired to defraud the United States. After the grant was terminated, Morens and Co-Conspirator 2 pledged to help Co-Conspirator 1 restore the funding and “counter the narrative that COVID-19 leaked from a lab.” They agreed in writing to move sensitive communications to Morens’ personal Gmail account specifically to keep them from Freedom of Information Act requests and federal-records requirements.
Publicly released records indicate Co-Conspirator 1 was former EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak and Co-Conspirator 2 was Gerald Keusch, a former Boston University infectious-disease official. Neither man has been charged with a crime.
The conspirators used Morens’ private account to exchange non-public NIH information, discuss efforts to influence NIH funding decisions, edit letters to agency leadership and “back-channel” information to a senior NIAID official. Court filings indicate that “Senior NIAID Official 1” was Fauci, according to CBS News. Fauci has not been charged or accused by prosecutors of participating in Morens’ conspiracy. He also received a pardon from Joe Biden and would not be eligible for prosecution.
That distinction has not stopped legal observers from noting the potentially broader significance of a conspiracy plea.
Former federal prosecutor William Shipley reacted to the plea by noting: “Holy Cow!!!!! Pleads to a conspiracy in the District of Maryland. That means others will named.”
Holy Cow!!!!!
Pleads to a conspiracy in the District of Maryland.
That means others will named. https://t.co/F9FlkfVqTl
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) August 18, 2026
The Justice Department’s own account already makes clear that Morens was not acting alone. His plea states that he knowingly joined an agreement involving other people to defraud the United States and commit federal offenses. The plea agreement further stipulates to a sentencing enhancement because the offense was “otherwise extensive in scope, planning, or preparation,” as well as another enhancement based on Morens’ abuse of a position of public trust or use of a special skill.
The admission follows years of extraordinary emails uncovered by congressional investigators.
As New Conservative Post previously reported, Morens told colleagues to use his private account because he tried to “always communicate on gmail because my NIH email is FOIA’d constantly.” In another email, Morens boasted that he had learned from an NIH FOIA employee how to make messages disappear before a records search began. Congressional investigators also uncovered evidence that Morens deleted correspondence with Daszak involving COVID research, grant funding and the origins of the pandemic.
Those records prompted the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in 2024 to examine whether Morens had violated federal records laws. Sen. Rand Paul later referred the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. What began as a congressional inquiry ultimately produced the federal prosecution and guilty plea announced Tuesday.
Morens also admitted as part of his plea that he and Co-Conspirator 1 conspired to pay illegal gratuities. Prosecutors said Daszak sent Morens two bottles of wine for his “behind-the-scenes shenanigans.” Morens later identified an official act he could perform to “deserve” the gift: writing a scientific commentary advocating that COVID-19 had natural origins. Daszak also discussed providing future meals at Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, New York and Washington.
The emails were particularly striking because Morens was not some distant NIH functionary. The Justice Department said his job included counseling senior NIAID leadership, gathering information about coronavirus research, helping formulate policy and briefing the senior official who would relay information to the president, Congress and the American public.
Fauci has sought to distance himself from Morens’ conduct. He told Congress in 2024 that Morens did not advise him on “institute policy or other substantive issues” and said he was unaware that Morens was improperly conducting government business through a personal email account. Prosecutors have not accused Fauci of wrongdoing in Morens’ case.
“By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did and will continue to do so,” Morens attorney Tim Belevetz said.
Morens faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing is scheduled for November.
But the guilty plea may be more consequential than the sentence itself. For years, congressional investigators alleged that officials and scientists used private communications to keep the public from seeing how the government handled questions about Wuhan, EcoHealth Alliance and the origins of COVID-19.
Now one of the senior officials at the center of those communications has admitted in federal court that there really was a conspiracy to hide federal records from the American people.
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