A Danish scientist specializing in autism and vaccine research has been extradited to the United States on federal wire fraud and money laundering charges.
A Danish scientist specializing in autism and vaccine research has been extradited to the United States on federal wire fraud and money laundering charges for allegedly stealing more than $1 million from American taxpayers.
Federal prosecutors said Paul Thorsen, 65, had been evading arrest since he was indicted in Atlanta in 2011, saying he had remained in Denmark and worked for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thorsen was arrested in Germany in the summer of 2025 and flown back to Atlanta on May 7 under an extradition order, authorities said.
Video posted on social media by federal officials showed Thorsen being escorted through Atlanta International Airport with his shackled hands covered in blue towels.
“Fugitives abroad who think they can avoid liability for serious federal crimes by living abroad are mistaken,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement.
Thorsen is accused of misappropriating a portion of $11 million in research funds paid to Danish government agencies, according to court records reviewed by USA TODAY. The CDC had given funding to a Danish government agency to investigate a possible link between autism and vaccines, and Thorsen was responsible for supporting this research. He is suspected of using the money to buy a car, a house and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
After Thorsen’s indictment in 2011, vaccine skeptics suggested that his previous research showing no link between autism and vaccines should be ignored. The CDC, under Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic, launched a controversial investigation into the link between vaccines and autism.
Before Kennedy took office, the CDC and other federal agencies said there was no link between autism and vaccines. The American Medical Association maintains its position: “…abundant evidence from decades of scientific research shows there is no link between vaccines and autism,” the AMA said in response to the CDC’s announcement that it would be considering a possible link in 2025.
