A former influential scientist who did work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is back in the grasp of U.S. law enforcement, facing financial fraud charges — after more than a decade out of federal authorities’ reach, according to officials.
Poul Thorsen was extradited Thursday from Germany with U.S. Air Marshals, according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. It comes 15 years after he was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia.
His work, and the fraud allegations against him, have long lingered in the lexicon of conspiracy theorists seeking to question the safety of vaccines.
Thorsen helped lead research for the CDC studying infant disabilities, according to prosecutors. Thorsen’s work included co-authoring papers that found no link between autism and childhood vaccination — science which, according to medical experts, still stands today.
Separate from Thorsen’s pursuit of peer-reviewed medicine, prosecutors say he schemed to divert research grant money to his own coffers.
Thorsen was indicted in 2011 after he allegedly “absconded” with over $1 million in CDC grant money for autism research and was charged with 13 counts of wire fraud and 9 counts of money laundering. He was arrested in Germany in June 2025.
