Deep-Sea Treasure Hunter Released After Decade in Prison
A US deep-sea treasure hunter who declined to disclose the whereabouts of gold coins from a renowned shipwreck has been freed after serving ten years in prison, with approximately 500 coins still missing.
Tommy Thompson, aged 73, discovered millions of dollars worth of sunken treasure from the 1857 wreck of the SS Central America, also known as the Ship of Gold, off South Carolina's coast in 1988.
Investors involved in Thompson's expedition accused him of defrauding them of promised earnings, and after evading authorities for years, he was incarcerated in 2015 on a criminal contempt charge.
Historical Context of the SS Central America Wreck
When the SS Central America sank in 1857, it was transporting 30,000 pounds of gold newly minted in San Francisco.
The ship's cargo, destined for the east coast to establish a banking reserve, sank to a depth of 7,000 feet, resulting in the loss of 425 passengers and crew members. This disaster contributed to the financial panic of 1857.
Investment and Recovery Efforts
A total of 161 investors contributed $12.7 million (£9.4 million) to Thompson's venture, with the expectation of receiving returns on their investment.
At the time, Thompson was an oceanic engineer at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio. In 1988, he and his team recovered thousands of gold bars and coins, much of which was later sold to a gold marketing group in 2000 for approximately $50 million.
Thompson maintained that the coins were handed over to a trust in Belize and that the proceeds from the initial gold sale were largely used to cover legal fees and bank loans, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.
Legal Disputes and Criminal Charges
In 2005, the investors filed a lawsuit against Thompson, claiming they had not received any profits from the treasure sale.
A subsequent criminal complaint stated that the recovered gold bars and coins were valued at up to $400 million.
Facing court orders, Thompson disappeared in 2012. After years in hiding, he and an associate were arrested in 2015 in Boca Raton, Florida.
Authorities revealed they had been residing in a hotel for two years, paying cash under a false name and relying on taxis and public transportation to avoid detection.
Contempt Charges and Imprisonment
Thompson was held in contempt for refusing to disclose information about the location of approximately 500 missing gold coins. He was sentenced to 24 months in prison in December 2015.
Civil contempt sentences typically last indefinitely until the individual complies with the court's directive—in this case, revealing the missing coins' location.
However, last year, the judge agreed to terminate Thompson's civil contempt sentence, reasoning that he was unlikely to provide the requested information, as reported by CBS News.
"He was unlikely to ever offer an answer," the judge stated when ending the sentence.
