An autism researcher who was on the lam for nearly 14 years has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $1 million in grants from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Poul Thorsen, 65, was extradited earlier this year from Germany and pleaded guilty this month to operating a wire fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
Thorsen, who had worked as a visiting scientist at the CDC, was the principal investigator for over $11 million in grants the CDC awarded to the Danish government between 2000 and 2009. The money was supposed to go toward studying the relationship between autism and exposure to vaccines, the connection between cerebral palsy and infection during pregnancy and the association between childhood development and fetal alcohol exposure.
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Between 2004 and 2008, federal prosecutors said that Thorsen submitted fraudulent documents with the forged signature of a CDC officials to Danish authorities, a university and a hospital involved in the research in order to be reimbursed for expenses he claimed were related to the grant.
As a result, Aarhus University in Denmark transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to accounts believed to be associated with the CDC that in fact belonged to Thorsen. He used the money to buy a home in Atlanta, a Harley Davidson motorcycle and vehicles made by Audi and Honda. Prosecutors said Thorsen also withdrew cash, paid off credit cards and sent funds to other accounts.
Thorsen ultimately diverted more than $1 million in CDC funds to himself, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said.
Despite an arrest warrant issued in 2011, Thorsen avoided the charges by remaining in Denmark until his arrest in Germany in June 2025. During that time, he was on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s list of top 10 most wanted fugitives.
“Poul Thorsen ran a multi-year fraud scheme to cheat the CDC, diverting valuable federal grant money to service his greed and inflated lifestyle,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “His fraud was especially reprehensible because he stole public funds that had been earmarked for research related to infant disabilities and birth defects. After evading justice for more than 14 years, Thorsen will finally be held accountable in a federal prison cell and ordered to pay full restitution to the CDC.”
Thorsen is expected to be sentenced Dec. 1.
