Tommy Thompson Missing Shipwreck Gold

Treasure hunter Tommy G. Thompson discovered the wreck of the SS Central America in 1988 and recovered gold worth tens of millions of dollars. After investors sued and a court ordered him in 2012 to reveal the whereabouts of 500 missing gold coins, he skipped a hearing and was later arrested, pleading guilty to criminal contempt and receiving a prison sentence plus a fine and daily contempt penalties. Thompson pleaded guilty to criminal contempt and received a two-year prison sentence and a 250,000 dollar fine, and the court also jailed him for civil contempt and fined him 1,000 dollars per day for refusing to disclose where the coins, valued at about 2.5 million dollars, are located. In February 2025 a federal judge fixed his civil contempt fine at $3,335,000 and ordered him to start serving a two-year criminal contempt sentence, yet the 500 coins remain unaccounted for.

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