David Morens pleads guilty to conspiracy to hide NIH research records

David Morens, a former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conceal agency records from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Court documents reveal the conspiracy involved efforts to hide communications regarding National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants. These grants were provided to EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit that funded coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. The NIH eventually canceled the bat coronavirus grant following scrutiny over whether the laboratory was the source of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The plea agreement identifies a “Co-Conspirator 1” who worked with Morens to avoid public disclosure. While not named directly, the details imply the individual is Peter Daszak, the head of EcoHealth Alliance. This development may provide a legal roadmap for further prosecutions related to the concealment of research records.