After almost 14 years, a former visiting scientist at the the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will face charges that he stole more than $1 million in grant funds. (iStock)
An autism researcher accused of absconding with more than a $1 million in grants from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and using the money for personal gain has been extradited after almost 14 years on the lam.
Poul Thorsen, 65, was arraigned late last week in Atlanta on federal wire fraud and money laundering charges after he was extradited from Germany.
The charges stem from Thorsen’s time administering over $11 million in CDC research funds that had been awarded to two government agencies in Denmark between 2000 and 2009, prosecutors with U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg’s office in the Northern District of Georgia said. The money was supposed to be used to study the connection between autism and vaccines, examine the association between cerebral palsy and infection during pregnancy and the relationship between childhood development and fetal alcohol exposure.
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Thorsen, a Danish researcher who had worked as a visiting scientist at the CDC, stole over $1 million by submitting more than a dozen fraudulent invoices featuring the forged signature of a CDC official for work that was supposedly done at a CDC lab, prosecutors said. As a result, Aarhus University in Denmark sent grant money to CDC Federal Credit Union accounts that the university believed belonged to the CDC, but that were in fact Thorsen’s personal accounts, according to the accusations.
Prosecutors allege that Thorsen withdrew money via cashier’s checks and used it to buy a home in Atlanta, a Harley Davidson motorcycle and cars made by Audi and Honda.
“Thorsen is alleged to have diverted more than a million dollars designated for critical public health and autism research. These funds were entrusted to advance scientific understanding and support children and families; instead, these tax dollars were exploited for personal gain, a serious breach of law and profound betrayal of public trust,” said Kelly Blackmon, special agent in charge with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.
A federal grand jury indicted Thorsen in 2011, but prosecutors said he evaded federal authorities by remaining in Denmark. Thorsen, who was one of the HHS Office of Inspector General’s top ten most wanted fugitives, was ultimately arrested in Passau, Germany last year and is currently being held without bail.
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