Treasure hunter freed from jail after refusing to turn over shipwreck gold
20 hours ago
- #legal-battle
- #shipwreck
- #treasure-hunting
- Tommy Thompson, a US deep-sea treasure hunter, was released from prison after a decade for refusing to disclose the location of 500 missing gold coins from the SS Central America shipwreck.
- Thompson discovered the shipwreck in 1988, recovering millions in gold bars and coins, which were later sold for about $50 million in 2000.
- Investors accused Thompson of cheating them out of proceeds, leading to a lawsuit in 2005 and his eventual arrest in 2015 after years on the run.
- The SS Central America sank in 1857, carrying 30,000 pounds of gold, contributing to the financial panic of that year.
- Thompson was held in contempt for not revealing the coins' location and sentenced to 24 months in prison in 2015, but the sentence was later ended as he was deemed unlikely to comply.