The Public Prosecutor in Denmark immediately appealed the verdict to a higher court. Petersen and four of his co-defendants fled Denmark shortly after being acquitted by the lower court. Poul Jørgensen, who had remained in Denmark for the appeal trial, was found guilty of tax fraud and embezzlement in January 2009, and sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment. According to Danish prosecutors, Jørgensen diverted millions of dollars earmarked for charitable use into private businesses owned by Tvind leaders. In 2013, Petersen and four others were sentenced "in absentia" to a year in prison for their suspected role in embezzling millions of Danish kroner from the Tvind Humanitarian Fund, an outgrowth of the Tvind schools. Danish police then instituted procedures for issuing an international arrest warrant, according to Jens Madsen, head of "Bagmandspolitiet", the Danish national financial crimes division. , the five, who are wanted by the police agency Interpol, are believed to have taken refuge in a coastal resort compound in Mexico.