Autism Researcher Indicted for Stealing Grant Money from CDC

A Danish man has been indicted on charges of stealing more than $1 million of grant money earmarked for autism research by the .

Poul Thorsen, a visiting scientist at the CDC in the 1990s, was indicted by a federal grand jury on 13 counts of wire fraud and nine counts of money laundering, according to a news release from the United States Attorney's Office.

Thorsen, 49, advocated for the grant money — which amounted to over $11 million dollars between 2000 and 2009 — when working at the CDC. 

He moved to Denmark in 2002 to oversee how the money was spent, and allegedly filed false paperwork to transfer "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to bank accounts that researchers in Denmark believed belonged to the CDC.

"From February 2004 through June 2008, Thorsen allegedly submitted over a dozen fraudulent invoices, purportedly signed by a laboratory section chief at the CDC, for reimbursement of expenses that Thorsen claimed were incurred in connection with the CDC grant," the news release said. "The invoices falsely claimed that a CDC laboratory had performed work and was owed grant money."

He allegedly used the money to buy a house in Atlanta, a Harley Davidson motorcycle, an Audi and a Honda, along with allegedly cashing several cashiers checks. The indictment requires him to give up the motorcycle, house and cars.

Thorsen faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count and a maximum of 10 years in prison for each money laundering count, along with a fine of up to $250,000 for each count.

“Grant money for disease research is a precious commodity.  When grant funds are stolen, we lose not only the money, but also the opportunity to better understand and cure debilitating diseases," United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a statement. "We will now seek the defendant’s extradition for him to face federal charges in the United States.”