People waste themselves focusing on conspiracy theories sometimes. Most of the time, in order to find out people’s motivation, all you have to do is follow the money.

Let’s take NIH Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, for instance. He was the man who was always front and center during the pandemic, guiding and directing our government’s response to the COVID-19 virus. It was Fauci who would constantly tell us that the pandemic was only going to get worse if we didn’t do exactly what he told us, and made it seem like it was never going to end.

Of course, cooler heads prevailed in red states, and while Democrat-controlled areas continued to lockdown, destroying their economy and their citizens’ lives, states like Florida and Texas moved on, much to the dismay of Fauci. An odd response, given the fact that it was clear that the lockdown measures and precautions like vaccine masks, weren’t working.

Then Kentucky Senator Rand Paul locked his eyes on Fauci and began digging into his connections to the virus. Lo and behold, Paul found that the NIH directly funded gain-of-function research, and specifically on the Coronavirus no less. One thing is for certain: Fauci certainly doesn’t seem to like Paul digging into things.

One reason might be because Fauci became very wealthy off of the pandemic. According to the New York Post, Fauci and his wife have increased their fortunes by millions:

Dr. Anthony Fauci and his wife’s net worth grew by $5 million during the COVID-19 pandemic as thousands of US residents struggled financially, according to a government spending watchdog group.

The combined wealth of the 81-year-old retiring director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and his bioethicist wife, Christine Grady, soared from $7.5 million in 2019 to $12.6 million at the end of 2021, according to a report from the non-profit OpenTheBooks.

“Despite becoming a figure of controversy, the system has rewarded Dr. Fauci handsomely,” the group’s CEO, Adam Andrzejewski, told Fox News Digital. “While Dr. Fauci has been a government bureaucrat for more than 55 years, his household net worth skyrocketed during the pandemic.”

Fauci’s net worth is increasing thanks to a multitude of things, including his salary spiking, non-profits giving him cash prizes, and an increasingly large investment portfolio.

“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,” said OpenTheBooks CEO Adam Andrzejewski.

I’m sure this will be an interesting point of discussion for Paul, who told Fauci that once the red wave hits Washington, some rules are going to change and Fauci will be at the center of many an investigation:

“We’ve been asking you and you refused to answer whether anybody on the vaccine committees gets royalties from the pharmaceutical companies. I asked you last time, and what was your response? We don’t have to tell you. We’ve demanded them through the Freedom of Information Act. And what have you said? We’re not going to tell you. But I tell you this, when we get in charge, we’re going to change the rules and you will have to divulge where you get your royalties from, from what companies, and if anybody in the committee has a conflict of interest, we’re going to learn about it. I promise you that.”

Deservedly so. This man locked down the nation and destroyed lives unnecessarily. His proclamations that he should be unquestionable because he represents “the science” always struck many as hubristic and, ironically, unscientific.

Now, his massive increase in wealth also looks a little odd. While it may very well have come legitimately, one has to wonder if he knew he would get that money by pushing the bad decisions that he did.