▲ Former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci
The FBI and federal prosecutors have been investigating Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and a Nobel laureate in connection with the controversy surrounding the origins of COVID-19, The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 5th (local time).
Citing current and former officials familiar with the investigation and documents obtained independently, the NYT reported that FBI agents and federal prosecutors have been gathering evidence related to at least eight scientists, including former Director Fauci.
Law enforcement authorities are known to have requested their phone records, emails, research grant funding, and financial payment records.
However, it remains unclear what evidence the ongoing investigation has secured or what stage it is currently in.
This probe marks a significant expansion of the initial FBI investigation, which originally focused on whether the COVID-19 virus leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
While the FBI investigation during the Biden administration primarily focused on whether the virus originated from a Wuhan lab, investigative agencies have expanded the probe and included new individuals following the launch of the Trump administration, according to the NYT.
Investigators are reportedly looking into whether scientists were involved in downplaying the possibility of a laboratory origin for COVID-19.
Former Director Fauci, who led the U.S. government pandemic response during the COVID-19 outbreak, sits at the center of the controversy.
Republicans claim that U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds flowed into virus research in Wuhan, China, and that Fauci lied to Congress while attempting to downplay or deny this.
Former Director Fauci has denied the allegations, maintaining that he testified truthfully before Congress.
The investigation is also expanding to other scientists.
According to a September 2025 document reviewed by the NYT, Richard Roberts, the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, is also among those targeted.
He is the person who organized a letter in 2020 condemning the first Trump administration's decision to cancel research grants for EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S. nonprofit research organization that had conducted joint research on COVID-19 with the Wuhan lab.
David Morens, a former adviser to Fauci, pleaded guilty last month to charges including concealing federal records by forwarding government emails to a personal account.
The Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office handling the case has also requested materials regarding emails sent by former Director Fauci to specific researchers using personal accounts, as well as whether he intervened or accepted compensation on behalf of federal research grant applicants.
(Photo: Getty Images)
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