Former CDC scientist accused of stealing $1M in grant money to buy luxury car, Harley-Davidson, authorities say

ATLANTA (ANF/Gray News) - A former scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is accused of stealing $1 million in grant money, authorities said.

Paul Thorsen is facing 22 counts of wire fraud and money laundering related to an alleged scheme to steal CDC grant money for research on infant disabilities, autism, genetic disorders and fetal alcohol syndrome.

From February 2004 to February 2010, officials said, Thorsen allegedly executed a scheme to steal grants the CDC had awarded to the Danish Medical Research Council.

Thorsen was working as a visiting scientist at the CDC’s Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities before the grant was awarded.

“That included the relationship between vaccines and autism, it included cerebral palsy in infants, it included fetal alcohol syndrome,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven McClain.

After the initial grant, a second grant was awarded to the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation. Both are Danish government agencies. The research was done by Aarhus University and Odense University Hospital in Denmark.

Thorsen allegedly diverted more than $1 million in CDC grant money to his personal bank account. He allegedly submitted fraudulent invoices on CDC letterhead to medical facilities assisting in the research for reimbursement of work covered by the grants.

He allegedly used the money to buy a house in Atlanta, an Audi, a Honda and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and to take out more than 60 cashier’s checks.

In April 2011, Thorsen was indicted on 22 counts of wire fraud and money laundering.

Thorsen was arrested in Germany on June 4, 2025.

Thorsen had been living in Denmark since he absconded in 2011, but was on vacation with his wife in Germany last year when German authorities stopped him, checked his paperwork, noticed a flagged Interpol red notice in the case and arrested him.

He fought extradition proceedings for a year but lost. He arrived in Atlanta on Thursday after he was extradited to the U.S.

“I wasn’t sure if this case would ever come to trial,” said McClain. “Because you never know, once 15 years goes by you think maybe that defendant is one that will never come back to the United States, never be extradited. So I was pleased to see that he was.”

Thorsen had been on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s top 10 most wanted list since 2011.