Danish Scientist Extradited to U.S. to Face 2011 CDC Grant Fraud and Money Laundering Charges

U.S. Air Marshals and flown in handcuffs to Atlanta. @ABC reported that the Danish scientist, who once worked as a visiting researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, faces 13 counts of wire fraud and nine counts of money laundering in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia in 2011.

Thorsen was arrested in Germany in June 2025. He is expected to be arraigned on Friday in federal court in Atlanta, according to an HHS-OIG official. Prosecutors allege he stole more than $1 million in CDC grant money.

From 2000 through 2009, the CDC awarded over $11 million to two Danish government agencies for research. In 2002, Thorsen moved back to Denmark and became principal investigator responsible for administering the research money awarded by the CDC, the indictment said.

He had worked as a visiting scientist from Denmark at the CDC’s Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities in the 1990s and early 2000s and helped lead research studying infant disabilities.

From February 2004 through June 2008, Thorsen submitted for reimbursement more than a dozen fraudulent invoices, according to the indictment. He forged signatures and documents with official CDC letterhead and submitted fake invoices he claimed were for research. The indictment states the CDC Federal Credit Union accounts were personal accounts held by defendant Thorsen.

Thorsen moved funds into personal accounts within CDC's credit union. He used the accounts to withdraw money for his own personal use, including the purchase of a Harley Davidson motorcycle, cars and a home in Atlanta. Yvonne Gamble stated: “Mr.