Danish Researcher Poul Thorsen Extradited to U.S. to Face 2011 Grant Fraud Charges

Poul Thorsen, a 65-year-old Danish national who co-authored dozens of papers on vaccines and autism, was transported from Germany to the United States on May 7, 2026. U.S. prosecutors.

A judge ordered Thorsen held without bail after he pleaded not guilty. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He worked as a visiting scientist at the CDC in the 1990s when he convinced officials to award a grant to Denmark. The CDC awarded more than $11 million to Danish government agencies from 2000 to 2009 to study any relationship between autism and vaccines, among other matters. In 2002, Thorsen moved to Denmark and became the grant’s principal investigator.

He allegedly submitted papers that listed fake expenses, according to charging documents. Those papers resulted in Aarhus University transferring money to accounts that officials believed belonged to the CDC but were actually Thorsen’s personal accounts. Thorsen is accused of using the money to buy a home in Atlanta and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg said in a statement.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. Thorsen was originally charged in 2011. He remained a fugitive until being arrested in Passau, Germany, on June 4, 2025. In 2026, German authorities agreed to extradite Thorsen to the United States.

Among the papers Thorsen co-authored was a study that researchers said showed that children who received a measles, mumps, rubella vaccine were less likely to be diagnosed with autism compared to children who did not receive the vaccine. None of the papers appeared to have any markings noting the charges against Thorsen as of May 11.