Former NIAID Senior Advisor Pleads Guilty to Hiding COVID Grant Communications – Journal Posts

A former senior advisor in NIAID’s Office of the Director, David Morens, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to conspiracy to defraud the United States.

According to the plea, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, Co-Conspirator 2 and others worked during the COVID-19 pandemic to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and the Federal Records Act after NIH terminated a bat coronavirus research grant that included a subaward to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. They used Morens’s personal Gmail account instead of official systems to discuss restoring the grant, counter lab-leak claims, exchange non-public NIH information, and influence funding decisions.

Morens also admitted receiving wine from a co-conspirator for his “behind-the-scenes shenanigans” and then writing a scientific commentary promoting a natural origin for the virus. Additional gifts, including high-end restaurant meals, were discussed. He faces up to five years in prison.