A former deep-sea treasure hunter and research scientist jailed for refusing to disclose the location of 500 missing gold coins may soon be released, after a judge ended the charge, stating he “no longer is convinced that further incarceration is likely to coerce compliance.”
In 1857, the SS Central America sank during a hurricane it met as it transported passengers from California to New York. Also on board the ship, earning it the nickname “Ship of Gold”, was a haul of an estimated 21 tonnes of gold nuggets and coins from prospectors. To put how much gold that is in perspective, the haul was headed for propping up banks in New York. When it sank, it ended up contributing to the financial panic of 1857.
The ship was pretty tempting for treasure hunters, but none found the lost haul until over a century later, when a team led by research scientist Tommy Gregory Thompson tracked it down in 1988, scanning the ocean floor using sonar.
Some of the gold on board was minted to create 500 coins, valued at around $2.5 million, and it is the whereabouts of these coins that has landed Thompson in jail since 2015. In 2012, Thompson failed to appear before an Ohio hearing on the coins, but was eventually found by US marshals in Florida in 2015. In that year, he was handed a civil contempt charge after refusing to co-operate with authorities and reveal the coins’ location. On top of this, he has been incurring a fine of $1,000 for every day of his incarceration, now totaling $3,335,000, more than the estimated value of the missing coins, and faces a lawsuit from investors in the voyage to find the SS Central America.
Contempt of court charges in the US are generally limited to 18 months, but in 2019, a federal appeals court refused his appeal, stating that Thompson’s refusal to reveal the location of the coins violated the conditions of a plea agreement.
Now, having served 10 years in prison, a judge has ended the civil charge. However, that doesn’t mean that Thompson is going to be freed just yet. Instead, the judge has ordered the 72-year-old to begin serving a 2-year sentence on a related criminal contempt charge, per AP News.
Thompson continues to keep the whereabouts of the gold coins to himself, though he has previously claimed that they were given over to a trust in Belize, without giving further details. He remains in jail, though the judge in Ohio stated he is unconvinced that more time in prison will make Thompson cooperate.
