David Morens, a former senior adviser to Anthony Fauci, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the US government by concealing federal records linked to COVID-19 research and pandemic-era communications.
Morens entered his guilty plea Tuesday in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, bringing a dramatic turn to a case that has drawn renewed attention to the handling of government records during the pandemic. The 78-year-old former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) official now faces a possible prison sentence of up to five years. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 12.