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Former Fauci adviser pleads guilty to conspiracy to conceal COVID-19 documents

2026-08-20 09:58:12Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Former Fauci adviser pleads guilty to conspiracy to conceal COVID-19 documents

Former adviser to infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, David Morens, pleaded guilty in the US on Tuesday to a charge of conspiracy to evade public records laws and conceal government documents related to research funding and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Morens, who had worked under Fauci as a senior official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) during the pandemic, pleaded guilty during a hearing in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The 78-year-old was indicted in April on charges related to what prosecutors described as a scheme to obstruct requests for public documents received by the agency, starting in April 2020, related to grants for COVID-19 research.

Morens faces up to five years in prison, with sentencing expected on November 12.

"By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did and will continue to do so," his attorney, Timothy Belevetz, said.

The guilty plea comes after Fauci, who led NIAID for 38 years and became one of the leading figures in the US response to the pandemic, testified last month before a Senate committee.

During the testimony, Fauci repeatedly referred to his right not to give answers that could implicate him, while accusing Republican Senator Rand Paul of waging a "crazy" campaign to imprison him.

Prosecutors: Morens used personal email to avoid document requests

The origins of COVID-19 remain unsolved. The FBI stated in 2023 that a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan was likely the cause of the pandemic, a claim that China has denied.

The CIA stated in January 2025 that a laboratory leak was possible, but with "low confidence," while four other US intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council assess that the virus most likely jumped to humans through natural transmission from an animal.

According to prosecutors, Morens' guilty plea is related to the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) decision to cancel a research grant on bat coronaviruses.

The grant was linked to claims that COVID-19 had emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, while the laboratory in China had received a sub-grant from the company that had received the initial funding.

Prosecutors said Morens had pledged to help restore the grant for research on bat coronaviruses and to refute the narrative that COVID-19 had leaked from a lab.

According to the indictment, anticipating that their communications could be sought through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, Morens and others agreed to use his personal email address instead of his official government address for communications.


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