15-05-2025
No, former Covid adviser Anthony Fauci isn't facing criminal charges in the US or elsewhere
A new wave of disinformation has surged online in the past week about Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House's former Chief Medical Adviser under President Joe Biden. And this is far from the first time. Fauci, who is known as the architect of the American fight against Covid-19, is often targeted by anti-vaxxers; people opposed to the use of some or all vaccines.
In recent weeks, Fauci has been under renewed attacks from conservative politicians. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, for one, has been spreading the theory that Covid-19 came from a lab in Wuhan, China and accusing Fauci of covering this up – and the fact that the United States was allegedly funding sensitive research in China.
This is the backdrop for the false accusations that have been circulating on social media of late. Facebook posts have been circulating claiming that New Zealand has charged 'Fauci with 107,357 counts of negligible homicide' in relation to the Covid-19 vaccination and that "14 countries" had issued arrest warrants for him. Nicolas Hulscher, the administrator of a controversial American foundation, said on X that criminal referral requests had been filed against Fauci and others who helped to manage the pandemic in seven American states. These claims were widely spread on social media, garnering more than 900,000 views on X, Facebook and Instagram.
While the first accusation is completely false, the second is missing important context.
No countries have issued arrest warrants for Dr. Fauci
'BOOM: 107,357 COUNTS OF NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE – GLOBAL ARREST WARRANTS ISSUED AGAINST FAUCI,' reads a Facebook post in French published by Va Lou, a user who often relays conspiracies about the Freemasons, the deep state or vaccines.
This message, which was widely shared in both French and English, comes from an article published on April 6 by the site AMG News. According to the site, Anthony Fauci had been charged in New Zealand with 107,357 counts of "negligent homicide" and was subject to arrest warrants filed by 14 countries, including Brazil, South Africa, Italy, Hungary and the Philippines. There is no information, however, about the nine other countries that have supposedly issued warrants.
The Australian police confirmed these claims were false in an interview with Australian media outlet AAP FactCheck for an article published on May 1.
"That is not accurate in any way whatsoever," a police spokesperson told the outlet, adding that there are no charges against Fauci in the country.
Moreover, if you search for 'Fauci' on the New Zealand police's official website, then there are no results, which also contradicts these allegations.
As for the arrest warrants supposedly issued by the other countries mentioned, we came up with no hits when we searched 'arrest' and 'Fauci' in the languages of each of these countries on Google. We also didn't see any sign of arrests on the official sites of their security forces.
Moreover, when we did a search in the public database of Interpol – the intergovernmental agency that co-ordinates police co-operation amongst the 196 member countries – we found no wanted notice related to Fauci. Interpol publishes "red notices' for wanted people – requests to locate and provisionally arrest people for the purposes of extradition. Once again, there is no sign of Fauci's name.
A site known for 'pseudoscience' and 'conspiracies'
The source of this disinformation is the AMG News (American Media Group) website. Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC), a site specialised in evaluating the trustworthiness of media outlets, called AMG News 'a conspiracy and pseudoscience news source based in Romania". The site doesn't have an 'about page' or any information about its owners, which MBFC cites as further signs of a lack of transparency.
The website shares conspiracy theories ranging from chemtrails to the deep state and often displays climate change scepticism and anti-vaccine rhetoric.
Requests for criminal investigations with no legal weight
The claim that criminal referrals had been issued in seven US states for Dr. Fauci and other key figures in managing the pandemic is missing important context.
The claims come from an article by someone named Nicolas Hulscher, which was published on April 9 on the site Focal Point. The article cites a press release shared on April 8 by Vires Law Group, a Florida-based group that claims to defend American citizens from 'tyranny' and 'lawless actors'. In the press release, the group says that they made a request to the Arizona attorney general to open a criminal investigation into Dr. Fauci and other architects of the Covid-19 strategy. They say similar requests were made in several other states.
So there have been requests for criminal investigations, as Hulscher claimed, but these carry no legal weight and do not constitute criminal referrals. Back in 2024, Vires Law Group issued a near-identical press release also making the same accusations against Fauci. At the time, US media outlet USA Today reported that these requests for criminal investigations did not constitute criminal referrals.
'Anyone or any group can contact local police, state police, sheriffs, district attorneys and/or the attorney general … and report facts and evidence they believe constitute criminal activity,' said Louisiana-based criminal law attorney Jim Boren in an interview with USA Today. This does not mean that an investigation will be opened or that criminal charges will be filed.
A foundation known for releasing questionable material
The author of the article, Nicolas Hulscher, says on X that he is an epidemiologist and an administrator at McCullough Foundation, an organisation that has sparked controversy, especially about its anti-vaccine stance. It was founded by Peter McCullough, an American cardiologist and former professor of medicine, who became a central figure spreading disinformation about Covid-19.
Known for taking positions contrary to scientific consensus, McCullough spoke out against vaccines and promoted non-verified treatments (like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin). Many scientific reviews and media outlets have identified him as sharing false information about the pandemic.
His foundation, which is also frequently criticised, shares studies and claims also contested by the scientific community. Some of these publications suggest a link between the Covid-19 vaccination and heart attacks – a theory disproved by medical research.
Hulscher and McCullough are the main two contributors to the site Focal Point, an outlet that says it is focused on investigations into public policy, health, justice and news. Many of the articles on the site feature McCullough's anti-vaxx discourse.
