A former senior official who worked under US Covid czar Anthony Fauci has pleaded guilty to conspiring to hide government records concerning coronavirus research and the origins of the pandemic.

David Morens served as a senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which Fauci headed, between 2006 and 2022. He was indicted on April 28 on charges including conspiracy against the US, destroying or falsifying federal records, concealing records, and aiding and abetting, over an alleged scheme to evade public-records requests concerning Covid-19 research.

On Tuesday, Morens pleaded guilty in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and defraud the US. He admitted that he and others had deliberately used his personal Gmail account to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

He now faces up to five years in prison and is due to be sentenced on November 12.

In emails previously released during the investigation, Morens wrote that he had learned from an “FOIA lady” how to “make emails disappear.” In another, he said he could send material to “Tony,” an apparent reference to Fauci, through private Gmail or deliver it personally, adding that “Tony” is “too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”

The records concerned US-funded coronavirus research carried out at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The funding was cut in 2020 as scrutiny grew over whether Covid-19 could have emerged from the Chinese laboratory.

Prosecutors said Morens worked with associates behind the scenes to restore the funding, push back against the lab-leak theory, and exchange nonpublic government information through private channels.

In his plea, Morens further admitted involvement in an illegal gifts scheme. The head of the nonprofit behind the Wuhan-linked research grant had sent him wine for his “behind-the-scenes shenanigans.” Prosecutors said Morens also discussed writing scientific commentary supporting a natural origin of Covid-19 as something he could do to “earn” the gift.

The guilty plea comes amid renewed scrutiny of Fauci, whom critics have accused of helping fund risky coronavirus research in Wuhan, concealing what he knew about a possible lab origin, misleading Congress and the public over the pandemic and vaccines, influencing intelligence agency assessments, and leading them away from the lab-leak theory, and personally profiting from his government role.

Last month, Fauci appeared before a Senate committee, where he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times while being grilled about Wuhan research, Covid’s origins, and his conduct during the pandemic. The Republican-led panel later voted to hold him in contempt of Congress.

Shortly before leaving office, former US President Joe Biden granted Fauci a broad pardon covering any potential federal offenses committed between 2014 and January 2025. Fauci has described efforts to prosecute him as an “unhinged” campaign.

Meanwhile, Covid-19’s origins remain unresolved. The FBI and CIA have both assessed a lab incident in Wuhan as the most likely source. Other US agencies have insisted on natural transmission from animals. China rejects the lab-leak claim.