Fauci’s Net Worth Nearly Doubled during Pandemic
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Dr. Anthony Fauci and his wife’s net worth soared during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a government spending transparency watchdog group.
The Fauci household net worth increased by $5 million between 2019 and 2021, and now exceeds $12.6 million, the nonprofit OpenTheBooks reported.
The chief medical adviser to Joe Biden, who has worked in government for over 55 years, is the highest paid federal employee, and will earn more than the president at $480,000 in 2022.
The majority wealth increase enjoyed by Fauci and his wife, chief bio-ethicist at the National Institutes of Health, Christine Grady, came from investment gains, gifts and awards, and federal employment compensation, according to the records.
Grady earned $238,970 in 2021, making more than the vice president.
“While Dr. Fauci has been a government bureaucrat for more than 55 years, his household net worth skyrocketed during the pandemic,” OpenTheBooks CEO Adam Andrzejewski told Fox News. “Fauci’s soaring net worth was based on career-end salary spiking, lucrative cash prizes awarded by non-profit organizations around the world and an ever-larger investment portfolio.”
Fauci earned nearly $1 million from foreign non-profit organizations, including the Israel-based Dan David Foundation, which gave him $901,400 for “speaking truth to power” and “defending science” while working in the Trump administration, OpenTheBooks reported.
“Despite becoming a figure of controversy, the system has rewarded Dr. Fauci handsomely,” Andrzejewski added. “For example, he is the top-paid federal employee, his first-year golden parachute retirement pension is the largest in federal history, and he’s accepting $1 million prizes from foreign non-profits.”
The 81-year-old promised to step down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the president in December.
Fauci noted he would not be retiring, but would be pursuing “the next chapter” of his career. If he retires in December, his estimated retirement pension of $414,667 would be greater than the president’s salary of $400,000, according to OpenTheBooks.
Congressional Republicans have vowed to open investigations into Fauci’s handling of the pandemic if they retake the majority in November.
Among the subjects they hope to investigate is Fauci’s role in pushing the NIH to sponsor gain-of-function research — research designed to make viruses more deadly and/or transmissible in an effort to study them — in Wuhan, China, where Covid is believed to have emerged.
In multiple testy exchanges with Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.), Fauci has refused to acknowledge the possibility that U.S.-funded research may have caused the pandemic, insisting that the research being done in the Wuhan doesn’t qualify as gain-of-function — though numerous experts have accused him of playing semantic games with the definition.
