Renegade Scientist Wanted By Feds For Alleged Grant Money Theft

Mariya Pylayev
Updated
<b class="credit">Courtesy of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Flickr</b>Poul Thorsen is pictured in the upper right-hand corner.
Courtesy of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention; FlickrPoul Thorsen is pictured in the upper right-hand corner.

-
Almost nothing could seem more philanthropic and transparent by its very nature – and so far removed from the money-crazed culture of, say, Wall Street – than science. But, however ironic, even such a noble enterprise is not immune to the quirks of human nature.

Poul Thorsen, a Danish scientist well known for his autism research, has landed a spot on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General's most wanted fugitives list. Thorsen is wanted on 13 counts of wire fraud and nine counts of money laundering and is currently awaiting extradition from Denmark, where he is believed to be hiding, officials said. He is accused of having stolen over $1 million dollars in federally awarded grant money, which he used to buy a half-million-dollar home in Atlanta, Ga., a Harley Davidson motorcycle and two cars.

Advertisement