Former Fauci employee indicted for allegedly hiding records

Federal prosecutors accused a former employee of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, of conspiracy and concealing records, according to a Tuesday statement from the Department of Justice. The Trump administration indicted David Morens, 78, for his alleged role in a scheme to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests about COVID-19 research grants, the DOJ claimed.

The indictment accused Morens and other co-conspirators of intentionally concealing information and falsifying records to suppress public theories about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. These accusations show a serious abuse of Americans’ trust at the height of a global pandemic, he added. The FBI will not tolerate employees evading protocols with the aim of avoiding transparency, according to FBI Director Kash Patel. Morens allegedly illegally concealed communications and received kickbacks for it, Patel added.

What kind of actions do prosecutors accuse Morens of taking? Prosecutors identified Morens as a senior adviser within the NIAID director’s office from 2006 to 2022, where he counseled several high-ranking staffers on senior-level policies. Morens was also responsible for gathering information from grantees and the larger scientific community to establish facts about the COVID-19 virus.

The indictment claimed Morens worked with two unnamed co-conspirators, identified by the DOJ as Co-Conspirator 1 and Co-Conspirator 2. The National Institutes of Health awarded Co-Conspirator 1 a grant to research the risk of coronavirus emergence among bats. However, NIH terminated the grant over allegations that the virus hailed from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Morens and Co-Conspirator 2 pledged to help Co-Conspirator 1 restore the grant and contradict the narrative that COVID-19 leaked from a Wuhan lab, the DOJ alleged.

Morens intentionally used a personal Gmail account to communicate with co-conspirators, rather than his official NIH email, to ensure their correspondence couldn’t be exposed in Freedom of Information Act requests, the DOJ said. The conspirators shared and discussed nonpublic federal health information, which fell within Morens’ role as senior adviser and should have been created and maintained on government systems, according to the indictment.

The indictment further alleged that Morens received illegal gratuities from Co-Conspirator 1. The indictment cited an instance where Co-Conspirator 1 had wine delivered to Morens’ Maryland home. Morens claimed that he could submit a commentary to a prominent medical journal alleging that COVID-19 had natural origins to really earn the gift, according to the DOJ. Co-Conspirator 1 also suggested he would give Morens her valuable gifts, including meals at Michelin-star restaurants in Paris, New York, and Washington, D.C., according to the indictment.

Morens could face up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge, and up to 20 years for each count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations. He may also face up to three years in federal prison for each count of concealment, removal, or mutilation of records. The DOJ noted that federal sentences usually fall below the maximum penalty and that all parties are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.