After more than ten years in federal custody, deep-sea explorer Tommy Thompson has been released for refusing to reveal where a stash of gold coins from a historic shipwreck is located.
The 73-year-old Thompson left a federal facility on Wednesday following a judge’s decision that suggested his continued imprisonment was no longer necessary.
Thompson had spent nearly a decade in prison after asserting he couldn’t recall the whereabouts of 500 gold coins taken from the SS Central America, which sank off South Carolina’s coast in 1857.
In a courtroom in 2020, he expressed his frustration, saying, “Sir, I don’t know if we’ve been down this road before, but I don’t know where the money is going. I feel like I don’t have the key to freedom.”
His troubles began long after a successful expedition in 1988, during which he used a robotic machine to recover gold from the ocean floor. This achievement triggered a series of lawsuits from investors and insurance companies who claimed rights to the treasure.
Thompson vanished in 2012 after he was summoned to court about the missing coins, valued at around $2.5 million at the time. He was eventually captured by federal marshals in 2015 at a Florida hotel, where he had been living under a pseudonym.
Since 2015, Thompson had been held in civil contempt, facing a daily $1,000 fine and solitary confinement until he complied with the court by revealing the location of the coins—a trust he claimed was in Belize. However, he argued that he no longer had records or memories of retrieving them.
Despite federal law typically limiting contempt sentences to 18 months, Thompson was still incarcerated. His appeal was dismissed in 2019.
Now released, he remains under court supervision. However, this does not eliminate the substantial fines he has accrued, nor does it resolve ongoing civil lawsuits from investors alleging fraud.
In an interview, California coin dealer Dwight Manley, who dealt numerous assets related to the case, remarked on the situation, stating, “It’s not America where you go to prison for 10 years for a business dispute. You can kill someone and get away with it in half the time.”
