U.S. prosecutor recommends 27-month prison sentence for Danish researcher

Danish researcher and doctor Poul Thorsen has agreed to pay $1 million to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after admitting that he misused research money, while a Georgia prosecutor recommends a 27-month prison sentence.

The proposed sentence appears in a plea agreement signed by the 65-year-old Thorsen and U.S. prosecutors. A judge in Atlanta is expected to set the final punishment on December 1. Thorsen has remained in pretrial detention in Georgia since arriving in the United States.

The case dates back years, to Thorsen’s time as a visiting researcher at the CDC in Atlanta. From 2000 through 2009, the agency awarded $11 million for research to be conducted in Denmark at Odense University Hospital and Aarhus University. The work included research into a possible connection between autism and vaccines.

U.S. authorities accused Thorsen of using more than $1 million for unrelated purposes, including a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, cars and a house in Atlanta. Denmark later refused to extradite him for trial in the United States. Last summer, however, German authorities arrested him in southern Germany while he was traveling by train back to Denmark after a holiday in Austria.

After a lengthy process and several protests, Germany extradited him to the United States in May. The judge’s decision will determine the sentence under the agreement.