Treasure hunter freed from jail after refusing to turn over shipwreck gold

Tommy Thompson, a 73-year-old US deep-sea treasure hunter, 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 the coast of South Carolina in 1988.

“- Published A US deep-sea treasure hunter who refused to disclose the location of a famed shipwreck's gold coins has been released from prison after a decade, with 500 coins still unaccounted for”

BBC

The ship had been carrying 30,000 pounds of gold newly minted in San Francisco to create a reserve for banks, and it sank 7,000 feet to the bottom of the ocean, taking with it 425 passengers and crew and contributing to the financial panic of 1857.

BBC

A total of 161 investors had given Thompson $12.7m (£9.4m) to find the ship with the understanding they would see returns on their investment.

Thompson and his crew brought up thousands of gold bars and coins, much of them later sold to a gold marketing group in 2000 for about $50m.

Thompson was an oceanic engineer at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio at the time, and he and his team worked to recover the treasure.

Investors sued Thompson in 2005, alleging they had not yet received any proceeds from the treasure's sale.

Thompson went missing in 2012 amid demands he appear in court, and after years on the run, he and an associate were arrested in 2015 in Boca Raton, Florida.

BBC

They had been staying in a hotel for two years, paying cash for their room under a false name and using taxis and public transport to avoid detection.

Thompson was held in contempt for refusing to answer questions about the location of about 500 missing gold coins, and he was sent to prison for 24 months in December 2015.

Civil contempt sentences are usually indefinite, until the person complies with the court order, which in this case would be divulging the location of the missing coins.

Last year, the judge agreed to end Thompson's civil contempt sentence, arguing that Thompson was not likely to ever offer an answer.

“- Published A US deep-sea treasure hunter who refused to disclose the location of a famed shipwreck's gold coins has been released from prison after a decade, with 500 coins still unaccounted for”

BBC

He was released from prison after a decade, with about 500 coins still unaccounted for.

The decision was reported by CBS News, via the BBC's US partner.

This case highlights the scale of the SS Central America treasure and the ongoing legal battles between investors and the finder over ownership and disclosure.

Investors sought returns from the recovered treasure, while Thompson's long-running imprisonment and subsequent release underline questions about accountability and the fate of the missing coins.

BBC