American prosecutors are seeking to
extradite a Danish scientist who a federal grand jury in Atlanta has
charged with 13 counts of wire fraud and nine counts of money
laundering. They allege that Poul Thorsen, 49, stole over $1 million
from autism research funding between February 2004 and June 2008, and
used the proceeds to buy a home in Atlanta, two cars and a Harley
Davidson.
Thorsen helped two Danish government
agencies obtain research grants, which amounted to $11 million between
2000 and 2009, whilst he was working as a visiting scientist at the
Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the
1990s. He returned to Denmark as the ‘principal investigator’ for the
programme, which studied the relationship between autism and exposure to
vaccines, allegedly putting him in charge of the administration of the
funding.
It is alleged that over the four-year
period he submitted over a dozen false invoices from the CDC for
research expenses to Aarhus University, where he held a faculty
position, instructing them to transfer the funds to a CDC account, which
was in fact his personal account.
“Grant money for disease research is a
precious commodity,” noted Sally Quillian Yates, from the US Attorney’s
office for the Northern District of Georgia, in a news release. “When
grant funds are stolen, we lose not only the money, but also the
opportunity to better understand and cure debilitating diseases.”
It was while Thorsen was working in
the 1990s at the CDC division of Birth Defects and Developmental
Disabilities that the CDC started soliciting grant applications for
research into the relationships between autism and exposure to vaccines,
cerebral palsy and infection during pregnancy, and childhood
development and fetal alcohol exposure. Thorsen saw an opportunity to
promote his homeland and played a central role in winning the grant.
Thorsen’s research on autism is widely
known in academic circles, where he was until this week a highly
respected figure. A paper of his on the subject, which is known as ‘The
Danish Study’, is quoted extensively to refute the autism vaccine
connection.
Each count of wire fraud carries a
maximum of 20 years in prison and each count of money laundering a
maximum of 10 years in prison, with a fine of up to $250,000 for each
count. The federal government will also seeks forfeiture of all property
derived from the alleged offenses.
💢 https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/fugitives/poul-thorsen/
💢 https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/gan/press/2011/04-13-11.html
💢 https://www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/to-catch-a-thief/
💢 https://x.com/NicHulscher/status/1967995710940516491/photo/1\
💢 https://shore-215.blogspot.com/2018/06/oig-fugitive-poul-thorsen.html💢💢
💢 https://sharylattkisson.com/2014/08/researcher-who-dispelled-vaccine-autism-link
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