The data in CDC's 1999 Verstraeten study clearly inculpated thimerosal as the principle culprit behind the autism epidemic. Contemporary emails among CDC officials— obtained under the FOIA— and the transcripts from a secret 2000 meeting between government regulators and vaccine makers at Simpsonwood, Georgia, show HHS officials plotting to create phony studies to exonerate vaccines. CDC officials hired a Scandanavian, Poul Thorsen, giving him $10 million to create a series of fraudulent reports from Denmark. Thorsen dutifully produced the predetermined results but allegedly stole at least $1 million of the grant from CDC. He is now an international fugitive under Federal indictment and on HHS's "Most Wanted" list.