A former deep-sea treasure hunter, who spent nearly ten years in prison for refusing to reveal the location of gold coins, has had that term ended by a federal judge in Ohio but will remain incarcerated.
U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley agreed to end Tommy Thompson’s sentence for civil contempt on Friday, January 31st. The judge said he is “no longer convinced that further incarceration is likely to coerce compliance.” However, he did order Thompson to serve a two-year sentence on a related conviction for criminal contempt. This term was delayed until the civil contempt term was imposed.
Mr. Thompson has been in custody for contempt of court since December 15, 2015, with a daily fine of $1,000. Judge Marbley has assessed Mr. Thompson’s total fine at $3,335,000.
The former treasure hunter found the gold coins in 1988
Tommy Thompson’s case dates back to 1988, when he and his team discovered the S.S. Central America, also known as the Ship of Gold. The ship carried 30,000 pounds of federal gold from the new San Francisco Mint to create a reserve for banks in the eastern U.S. It sank in 1857 in a hurricane off North Carolina, taking 425 out of 578 crew and passengers with her.
Thompson and his team located the ship on September 11, 1988, more than 7,000 feet below the ocean surface.
WHERE DID THEY GO? : A treasure hunter named Tommy Thompson located a ship that sank in 1857 called the SS Central America. The ship carried several tons of gold, and in 1987, he recovered over $1 billion worth of gold from it. He never paid back his crew or investors. pic.twitter.com/CXSECDDBdi
— Deltaville Yachting (@DYCBoats) October 19, 2018
Despite facing an investor lawsuit and a federal court order, the former treasure hunter did not cooperate with an investigation attempting to locate 500 gold coins valued at approximately $2.5 million. Instead, he has previously stated that the coins were transferred to a trust in Belize.
Thompson was ordered to appear in court in 2012
Mr. Thompson was ordered to appear in court almost 30 years after the gold coins were originally discovered to disclose their location. He did not appear, as he fled to Florida where he lived with his long-time partner in a hotel near Boca Raton. U.S. marshals tracked him down and arrested him after a three-year manhunt. Thompson pleaded guilty and was given a two-year prison sentence.
Sep 11, 1988: Lost steamship ‘the Ship of Gold’ SS Central America, sunk in 1857, rediscovered in waters off North Carolina by group led by Tommy Gregory Thompson using Bayesian search theory. pic.twitter.com/R75c3wS4NW
— Today in History (@KeMwananchi) September 11, 2024
Treasure from the S.S. Central America has accumulated millions of dollars in auctions. In 2022, one of the gold ingots from the ship weighing 866.19 ounces sold for $2,16 million. Several other relics recovered from the shipwreck were sold for more than $11 million at auction in 2019. A private collector bought an 80-pound ingot for $8 million in 2001.
Despite initially sentencing Mr. Thompson to 2 years for contempt, a federal court rejected his appeal in 2019, saying his refusal to cooperate with the investigation violated the plea agreement’s conditions.