A prominent figure in the realm of deep-sea exploration, once celebrated for uncovering one of the most significant shipwrecks in U.S. history, has recently been released from prison. This comes after he spent a decade behind bars for refusing to reveal the location of some missing gold coins, according to federal records.
Tommy Thompson, known for his groundbreaking 1988 discovery of the “Ship of Gold” near South Carolina’s coast, was freed last Wednesday as per the federal Bureau of Prisons records obtained by The Associated Press.
Thompson, originally from Ohio and a research scientist by profession, gained national acclaim for locating the SS Central America. The ship, along with its vast trove of treasure, had remained submerged in the Atlantic Ocean for over a century and a half.
However, his story took a dramatic turn in the years that followed. Thompson faced legal battles with investors who alleged he withheld millions from them. He subsequently went on the run, becoming a fugitive before being incarcerated for defying court orders, all while claiming ignorance about the fate of 500 gold coins minted from the ship’s treasure.
The SS Central America was laden with riches from the California Gold Rush when it met its demise in a hurricane in 1857.
The disaster resulted in the drowning of 425 people and the loss of thousands of pounds of gold, which significantly contributed to a financial crisis at the time.
Investors who backed Thompson’s venture sued him in 2005, saying they had yet to receive any money from the $50 million sale of more than 500 gold bars and thousands of coins — just part of the ship’s booty.
Thompson, who was living in Florida, went into seclusion and then later became a fugitive when an Ohio federal judge issued a warrant for his arrest in 2012 after he failed to show up in court.
Authorities tracked Thompson to a Florida hotel three years later.
The judge then held him in contempt and sent Thompson to prison at the end of 2015 for refusing to answer questions about the location of missing coins.
Thompson, now 73, maintained that the coins — valued then at $2.5 million — were turned over to a trust in Belize and said the $50 million from the sale of the first batch of gold mostly went toward legal fees and bank loans.
He remained locked up even though federal law generally limits jail time for contempt of court to 18 months.
A federal appeals court in 2019 rejected Thompson’s argument that the law applied to him, saying his refusal violated conditions of a plea agreement.
The following year, Thompson appeared by video for another hearing where US District Judge Algenon Marbley again asked whether he was ready to address the whereabouts of the gold.
“Your honor, I don’t know if we’ve gone over this road before or not, but I don’t know the whereabouts of the gold,” Thompson responded. “I feel like I don’t have the keys to my freedom.”
Just over a year ago, Marbley agreed to end Thompson’s sentence on the civil contempt charge, saying he was no longer convinced that keeping him in prison would produce an answer.
The judge then ordered Thompson to immediately start serving a two-year sentence for skipping the 2012 court hearing.
Dwight Manley, a California coin dealer who bought and sold nearly the entire fortune, said Monday that Thompson paid a heavy price over what he said amounted to a business dispute.
“Going to prison for 10 years over a business dispute is not America,” Manley said. “People kill people and get out in half the time.”
Sentences in civil contempt cases are somewhat indefinite, but they shouldn’t go on forever, said Ryan Scott, a University of Florida law professor who researches contempt law and worked to secure Thompson’s release.
“It’s very unusual to go on 10 years,” Scott said.
He said Thompson should have been freed years ago — since at least 2018, after the court dismissed the underlying case — calling it a “miscarriage of justice for this to have gone on this long.”
