A former deep-sea treasure hunter is about to mark his fifth year in jail for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of 500 missing coins made from gold found in an historic shipwreck.
Research scientist Tommy Thompson, 68, is being held, not for breaking the law, but for being in contempt of court.
It's an unusually long stretch of jail time - well past the normal maximum limit of an 18-month internment in cases of witnesses refusing to cooperate.
But nothing is usual about Thompson's case, which dates to his discovery of the S.S. Central America, known as the Ship of Gold, in 1988.
At the time, he was acting on behalf of 161 investors who had paid him $12.7million to find the ship.
The gold rush-era ship sank in a hurricane off South Carolina in 1857 with thousands of pounds of gold aboard, contributing to an economic panic.
Thompson and his crew recovered thousands of gold bars and coins - said to weigh three tons - from the shipwreck in 1988.
A large portion of that gold was reported to have been sold to a gold marketing group in 2000 for about $50million.
Thompson was also accused of having taken 500 gold coins worth $2million.
Research scientist Tommy Thompson, 68 (in undated images), has spent five years in jail on contempt charges for refusing to disclose where $2million of gold coins he salvaged from a famous shipwreck are located
Thompson (in 1989) is pictured holding a $50 pioneer gold piece which was part of the three tons of gold he retrieved from the shipwreck of the SS Central America in 1988
This undated drawing made available by the Library of Congress shows the U.S. Mail ship SS Central America, which sank after sailing into a hurricane in September 1857
A 1989 photo shows gold bars and coins in situ while they were being recovered by Thompson
Thompson's current legal troubles stem from the investors who paid Thompson to find the ship, but never saw any proceeds and finally sued him.
Despite an investors lawsuit and a federal court order, Thompson still won't cooperate with authorities trying to find those coins, according to court records, federal prosecutors and the judge who found Thompson in contempt.
'He creates a patent for a submarine, but he can´t remember where he put the loot,' federal Judge Algenon Marbley said during a 2017 hearing.
Back in 2012, a different federal judge ordered Thompson to appear in court to disclose the coins' whereabouts.
Instead, Thompson fled to Florida where he lived with his longtime female companion, Alison Anteiker, at a hotel near Boca Raton. U.S. Marshals tracked him down at the hotel and arrested him in early 2015.
Thompson pleaded guilty for his failure to appeal and was sentenced to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Thompson's criminal sentence has been delayed until the issue of the gold coins is resolved.
Thompson (in 1991) was sued by investors who said they paid him $12.7million to find the treasure, but never saw any returns. Thompson went into hiding in 2012
A wanted billboard for Tommy Thompson and longtime partner Alison Antekeier, who went into hiding in 2012 after Thompson's investors sued him
One of thousands of 1857's $20 gold pieces (left) salvaged from the SS Central America shipwreck and a gold bar and $50 gold piece (right) also recovered from the wreck
That April 2015 plea deal required Thompson to answer questions in closed-door sessions about the whereabouts of the coins, which the government says are worth $2million to $4million.
Importantly, he must also 'assist' interested parties in finding the coins under that deal.
Thompson refused several times, and on December 15, 2015, Marbley found Thompson in contempt of court and ordered him to stay in jail - and pay a $1,000 daily fine - until he responds.
In late October of this year, Thompson appeared by video for his latest hearing.
'Mr. Thompson, are you ready to answer the seminal question in this case as to the whereabouts of the gold?' Marbley said.
'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.'
And with that, Thompson settled back into his current situation: housed in a federal prison in Milan, Michigan.
He´s now spent more than 1,700 days in jail and owes nearly $1.8million in fines and counting. Thompson's attorney declined to comment.
Thompson has said he suffers from a rare form of chronic fatigue syndrome that has created problems with short-term memory. He´s previously said, without providing details, that the coins were turned over to a trust in Belize.
The government contends Thompson is refusing to cooperate and that there´s no connection between his ailment and his ability to explain where the coins are.
A federal law addresses individuals like Thompson, known as 'recalcitrant witnesses.' The law holds that 18 months is generally the limit for jail time for contempt of court orders. But a federal appeals court last year rejected Thompson's argument that that law applies to him.
Thompson hasn't just refused to answer questions, the court ruled: He's also violated the requirement that he 'assist' the parties by refusing to execute a limited power of attorney to allow that Belizean trust to be examined, as required under his plea deal.
'The order isn´t intended to solely seek information, it´s to seek information for the purposes of recovering these unique assets,' said law professor and legal analyst Andrew Geronimo, director of Case Western University's First Amendment Clinic.
Earlier this year, Marbley denied Thompson's request for release over concerns he's at risk for contracting the coronavirus behind bars. Marbley said Thompson didn't present proper evidence for his risk level, and also noted he remains a flight risk.
The investors still looking for their money say Thompson has no one but himself to blame for his incarceration.
'He would be out of prison by now if he had simply complied with his plea agreement and cooperated in locating missing assets when he was supposed to,' attorney Steven Tigges said in a March court filing.
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