Bruce Ivins, 62, who worked for the past 18 years at the Government's bio-defence labs at Fort Detrick, Maryland, had been told of the impending prosecution, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The laboratory has been at the centre of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax attacks, which killed five people. Bruce Ivins died on Tuesday in hospital in Maryland. The newspaper, quoting an unidentified colleague, said the scientist had taken a huge dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine.
