A former top official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has been indicted for his alleged role in a scheme to hide federal records linked to COVID-19 research grants.
David M. Morens, 78, who served as a senior advisor to former NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci from 2006 to 2022, was charged Tuesday in the District of Maryland with conspiracy against the United States.
The indictment claims Morens worked with others to dodge Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by moving official government business to a personal Gmail account.
This allegedly began after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) pulled a grant titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.”
That grant had been awarded to a company that then provided a subaward to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Prosecutors say Morens and his associates aimed to counter the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory by keeping their internal discussions away from the public eye.
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“These allegations represent a profound abuse of trust at a time when the American people needed it most,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. He noted that the indictment alleges Morens and co-conspirators deliberately falsified records to suppress certain theories regarding the pandemic’s origins.
Beyond the records charges, the DOJ alleges that Morens accepted illegal gratuities. According to court documents, a co-conspirator gifted Morens wine in exchange for “behind-the-scenes shenanigans.”
Morens then allegedly authored a scientific commentary in a major medical journal advocating for the natural origins of COVID-19 to “deserve” the gift. There were also mentions of future rewards, including meals at high-end restaurants in Paris and New York.
The charges against Morens include the destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations, as well as the concealment and removal of records.
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FBI Director Kash Patel stated that circumventing transparency protocols would not be tolerated, adding that Morens allegedly engaged in “illegal obfuscation” of his communications.
Morens now faces a potential sentence of up to 20 years for each count of falsifying records and five years for the conspiracy charge.
While the maximum penalties are steep, actual sentences are typically lower and determined by a federal judge. As with all criminal cases, Morens is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph R. Baldwin and Bijon A. Mostoufi are handling the prosecution.
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