Tommy Thompson, a US deep-sea treasure hunter, has been released from prison after a decade, having refused to disclose the location of gold coins from the famed 1857 shipwreck of the SS Central America, also known as the Ship of Gold. The 73-year-old Thompson discovered millions of dollars' worth of sunken treasure off the coast of South Carolina in 1988, but his release comes with 500 coins still unaccounted for, raising questions about accountability in the treasure-hunting industry.
Investors in Thompson's venture accused him of cheating them out of promised proceeds from the treasure's sale. He was jailed in 2015 on a criminal contempt charge for failing to comply with a court order to reveal the whereabouts of the missing coins. Civil contempt sentences are typically indefinite until compliance, but in this case, the judge ended Thompson's sentence last year, arguing he was unlikely to ever provide an answer, according to reports from CBS News.
The SS Central America sank in 1857 while carrying 30,000 pounds of gold newly minted in San Francisco, destined for the east coast to create a reserve for banks. The disaster claimed the lives of 425 passengers and crew and contributed to the financial panic of 1857. Thompson raised $12.7 million from 161 investors to fund the search, with the understanding they would receive returns, but investors later sued in 2005, alleging they had not seen any proceeds.
In 1988, Thompson and his crew recovered thousands of gold bars and coins from the shipwreck, much of which was sold to a gold marketing group in 2000 for approximately $50 million. However, a criminal complaint later suggested the recovered treasure could be worth up to $400 million. Thompson went missing in 2012 amid court demands and was arrested in 2015 in Boca Raton, Florida, after years on the run with an associate, living in a hotel under a false name and using cash for payments to avoid detection.
The case highlights ongoing legal and ethical challenges in deep-sea treasure hunting, particularly regarding investor rights and transparency. Thompson's release, despite the unresolved mystery of the missing coins, underscores the complexities of enforcing court orders in such high-stakes financial disputes, leaving investors without closure and raising doubts about the efficacy of the US legal regime in handling similar cases.
Source: www.bbc.com