Top Fauci Advisor Pleads Guilty In COVID-19 Origin Cover-Up Case

BreakingBusinessTop Fauci Advisor Pleads Guilty In COVID-19 Origin Cover-Up CaseByMary Whitfill Roeloffs,Forbes Staff. Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes breaking news reporter covering pop culture.Follow AuthorAug 19, 2026, 10:42am EDTToplineAn advisor who served as a top aide to Dr. Anthony Fauci during the COVID-19 outbreak has pleaded guilty to plotting to conceal federal records related to the pandemic, amid a wave of Republican legislative scrutiny over the federal response to the pandemic. Dr. David Morens speaks during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing on Capitol Hill on May 22, 2024.Getty ImagesKey FactsDr. David Morens, who worked as a senior advisor in Fauci's office at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for almost 20 years, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States government. Morens, who played a role in pandemic communications and coordinated high-priority research grants, is accused of using his private email account to purposefully avoid his communications falling under public records law, which he denied in congressional testimony. The Justice Department alleges that he worked to combat the ​narrative that COVID-19 leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China and made an effort to revive a controversial coronavirus grant called "Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence."Morens’ indictment comes amid a probe by House Republicans into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic that saw Fauci repeatedly invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a congressional hearing last month. if (!window.cnxel) { window.cnxel = {}; window.cnxel.cmd = []; var iframe = document.createElement('iframe'); iframe.style.display = 'none'; iframe.onload = function() { var iframeDoc = iframe.contentWindow.document; var script = iframeDoc.createElement('script'); script.src = '//cd.elements.video/player.js?cid=62cec241-7d09-4462-afc2-f72f8d8ef40a'; script.setAttribute('defer', '1');...