2026年8月18日 / 美国东部时间下午4:03 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
华盛顿讯 —— 美国国家过敏和传染病研究所前高级顾问已就新冠疫情期间藏匿联邦记录的相关计划所涉指控认罪。
根据与马里兰州联邦检察官达成的协议，78岁的戴维·莫伦斯承认犯有一项共谋犯罪及欺骗美国的罪名。他最高可被判处五年监禁。
莫伦斯于2006年至2022年间担任美国国家过敏和传染病研究所所长办公室高级顾问，今年4月被起诉，当时检方指控他通过隐瞒与新冠疫情相关的联邦记录来欺骗美国，共涉及五项罪名。
莫伦斯的律师蒂姆·贝列韦茨表示：“通过今天认罪，莫伦斯博士已为自己的行为承担责任，并将继续承担这一责任。”
检方称，莫伦斯与两名同谋合作。第一名“同谋者1”是一家总部位于纽约的非营利组织的总裁兼首席执行官，该组织在2014年获得了一项名为“了解蝙蝠冠状病毒暴发风险”的拨款。检方表示，中国武汉的武汉病毒研究所从该纽约组织获得了这项冠状病毒研究拨款的分拨款，但美国国立卫生研究院在2020年4月，因新冠病毒可能源自该实验室的指控，终止了这项拨款。美国国家过敏和传染病研究所隶属于美国国立卫生研究院。
第二名同谋在起诉文件中被描述为一名医生、科学家和教授，曾在获得联邦拨款的学术机构工作。
由共和党主导的新冠疫情调查特别委员会公开的电子邮件显示，这家总部位于纽约的非营利组织是生态健康联盟，而“同谋者1”正是该组织主席彼得·达斯扎克。
此次起诉源于2020年4月至2022年12月期间，美国国家过敏和传染病研究所收到的多份《信息自由法》申请，要求获取莫伦斯与该纽约非营利组织及其主席之间的通信记录。
根据认罪协议，莫伦斯与两名同谋约定，通过莫伦斯的个人Gmail账户而非其官方国立卫生研究院邮箱，就新冠疫情及其起源以及已终止的冠状病毒研究拨款事宜交换电子邮件，以此隐瞒联邦记录，规避公共记录法。
法庭文件显示，莫伦斯及其同谋还通过他的Gmail账户共享美国国立卫生研究院关于新冠疫情的非公开信息，并向一名身份不明的美国国家过敏和传染病研究所高级官员——据称是该研究所前所长安东尼·福奇——传递“幕后渠道”信息。
莫伦斯在认罪协议中还承认，他与“同谋者1”共谋支付非法酬金。法庭记录显示，2020年6月，“同谋者1”为感谢莫伦斯“幕后运作”，向他在马里兰州的住宅寄送了两瓶葡萄酒。
协议显示，“同谋者1”还曾在发给莫伦斯个人邮箱的邮件中表示，可以为他提供其他有价值的物品，比如米其林星级餐厅的用餐券。
美国国会共和党人对新冠疫情的起源展开了调查，包括病毒是否从武汉实验室泄漏的理论以及福奇对疫情的处理方式。
福奇和莫伦斯均于2024年出席了众议院新冠疫情调查特别小组委员会的听证会。在听证会上，莫伦斯被问及有关他试图规避公共记录规定的电子邮件。
福奇在2024年与莫伦斯的调查划清界限，并告诉议员们，莫伦斯并非他“研究所政策或其他实质性问题”的顾问。福奇同时承认，莫伦斯的许多行为是错误的，违反了机构规定，并否认曾使用个人邮箱处理公务。
福奇持续受到国会共和党人的审查。最近几周，共和党公开了福奇在疫情期间的短信和日记，福奇上个月出席了参议院国土安全与政府事务委员会的听证会。在听证会上，福奇多次援引第五修正案，拒绝回答参议员的提问。
本月早些时候，参议院国土安全委员会投票决定以藐视国会罪起诉福奇。相关移交文件已送交司法部。
David Morens, former NIAID adviser, pleads guilty in COVID-19 records scheme
August 18, 2026 / 4:03 PM EDT / CBS News
Washington — A former senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has pleaded guilty to a charge stemming from a scheme to hide federal records during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under a deal reached with federal prosecutors in Maryland, David Morens, 78, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States. He faces up to five years in prison.
Morens, a senior adviser at NIAID’s Office of the Director from 2006 to 2022, was indicted in April and charged with five counts for what prosecutors said at the time was his role in a scheme to defraud the U.S. by shielding federal records related to the COVID-19 pandemic from the public.
Tim Belevetz, a lawyer for Morens, said, “By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did and will continue to do so.”
Prosecutors said Morens worked with two co-conspirators. The first, “co-conspirator 1,” served as the president and CEO of a New York-based nonprofit that received a grant in 2014 titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.” The Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, received a subaward from the New York group on the coronavirus grant, prosecutors said, though the National Institutes of Health terminated the award in April 2020 following allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the lab. The NIAID is part of the NIH.
Dr. David Morens appears during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing on Capitol Hill on May 22, 2024. Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
The second co-conspirator was described in charging documents as a physician, scientist and professor who worked for an academic institute that received federal grants.
Emails made public by the GOP-led Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic indicate that the New York-based nonprofit is the EcoHealth Alliance and co-conspirator 1 is its president, Peter Daszak.
The indictment stemmed from several Freedom of Information Act requests NIAID received between April 2020 and December 2022 that sought communications between Morens, the New York-based nonprofit and its president.
According to the guilty plea, Morens and the two co-conspirators agreed to exchange emails about COVID-19 and its origins, as well as the terminated coronavirus grant, through Morens’ personal Gmail account, rather than his official NIH account, to hide federal records and evade public records laws.
Morens and his co-conspirators also used his Gmail account to share nonpublic information from the NIH about COVID-19 and “back-channel” information to an unidentified senior NIAID official, who appears to be Anthony Fauci, the institute’s former director, according to court filings.
Morens also admitted as part of his guilty plea that he and co-conspirator 1 conspired to pay illegal gratuities. Court records show that Morens received two bottles of wine in June 2020 from co-conspirator 1 for his “behind-the-scenes shenanigans,” which were delivered to his Maryland house.
The agreement states co-conspirator 1 also told Morens in an email to his personal account that he could provide additional items of value, such as a meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Congressional Republicans investigated the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the theory that the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab and Fauci’s handling of the pandemic.
Fauci and Morens each appeared before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in 2024. During his appearance, Morens was questioned about emails suggesting he was attempting to bypass public-records rules.
Fauci distanced himself from the investigation into Morens in 2024 and told lawmakers that Morens was not an adviser to him on “institute policy or other substantive issues.” Fauci also acknowledged that many of Morens’ actions were wrong and violated agency policy, and denied using his personal email to conduct official business.
Fauci has continued to come under scrutiny from Republicans in Congress. Text messages and diary entries from Fauci during the pandemic were made public by the GOP in recent weeks, and Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last month. During that appearance, Fauci repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer senators’ questions.
The Senate Homeland Security panel voted earlier this month to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress following the hearing. The referral has been sent to the Justice Department.
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