Ex-Fauci Adviser Pleads Guilty to COVID-19 Conspiracy

A former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal conspiracy charge for his role in a scheme to conceal government records related to COVID-19 research grants and the origins of the pandemic. Dr. David Morens, 78, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, admitting to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States.

The guilty plea resolves a case that began with a congressional investigation into Morens' use of a personal email account for official business. In exchange for the plea, federal prosecutors agreed to drop four other charges from an April 2026 indictment, which included counts for destruction and falsification of records. Morens now faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and three years of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for November 12, 2026.

According to the plea agreement and a joint stipulation of facts, the conspiracy ran from approximately April 2020 through at least June 2023. It began after the National Institutes of Health terminated a grant titled "Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence," which had been awarded to...