Washington – A former senior adviser to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has pleaded guilty to a charge stemming from a scheme to conceal federal records during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under a deal reached with federal prosecutors in Maryland, David Morens, 78, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit crimes and defraud the United States. He faces up to five years in prison. Morens, a senior adviser in the NIAID Office of the Director from 2006 to 2022, was indicted in April and charged with five counts for what prosecutors said at the time was his role in a scheme to defraud the United States by hiding federal records related to the COVID-19 pandemic from the public. Tim Belevetz, Morens’ attorney, said, “By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did and will continue to do.” Prosecutors said Morens worked with two accomplices. The first, “co-conspirator 1,” served as president and CEO of a New York-based nonprofit that received a grant in 2014 titled “Understanding the Risk of Coronavirus Emergence in Bats.” The Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, received a sub-award from the New York group for the coronavirus grant, prosecutors said, although the National Institutes of Health canceled the grant in April 2020 following allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the lab. The NIAID is part of the NIH. Dr. David Morens appears during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing on Capitol Hill on May 22, 2024. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images The second co-conspirator was described in charging documents as a doctor, scientist and professor who worked for an academic institute that received federal grants. Emails made public by the GOP-led Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic indicate that the New York-based nonprofit is EcoHealth Alliance and Co-Conspirator 1 is its president, Peter Daszak. The allegation arose from several Freedom of Information Act requests that NIAID received between April 2020 and December 2022 that sought communications between Morens, the New York-based nonprofit, and its president. According to the plea, Morens and the two co-conspirators agreed to exchange emails about COVID-19 and its origins, as well as the canceled coronavirus grant, through Morens’ personal Gmail account, rather than his official NIH account, to conceal federal records and evade public records laws. Morens and his co-conspirators also used his Gmail account to share non-public NIH information about COVID-19 and “backchannel” information to an unnamed senior NIAID official. who appears to be Anthony Fauci, former director of the institute, according to court documents. Morens also admitted as part of his guilty plea that he and Co-Conspirator 1 conspired to pay illegal gratuities. Court records show Morens received two bottles of wine in June 2020 from co-conspirator 1 for his “behind-the-scenes antics,” which were delivered to his Maryland home. The agreement states that Co-Conspirator 1 also told Morens in an email to his personal account that he could provide additional items of value, such as a meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Congressional Republicans investigated the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the theory that the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab and Fauci’s handling of the pandemic. Fauci and Morens appeared before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in 2024. During his appearance, Morens was questioned about emails that suggested he was trying to circumvent public records rules. Fauci distanced himself from the investigation into Morens in 2024, telling lawmakers that Morens was not his adviser on “institutional policy or other substantive issues.” Fauci also acknowledged that many of Morens’ actions were wrong and violated agency policy, and he denied using his personal email to conduct official business. Fauci has continued to come under scrutiny from Republicans in Congress. The Republican Party released Fauci’s text messages and diary entries during the pandemic in recent weeks, and Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last month. During that appearance, Fauci repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions from senators. The Senate Homeland Security panel voted earlier this month to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after the hearing. The referral has been sent to the Department of Justice. More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press
