Treasure hunter freed after refusing to reveal location of missing gold worth millions

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Tommy Thompson, famous for discovering a massive treasure from a shipwreck, has been released from prison after serving over ten years.

In 1988, Thompson headed an expedition that found the SS Central America, a steamship lost in 1857 with a huge amount of gold from the California Gold Rush still on board.

He managed to salvage thousands of gold bars and coins from the shipwreck, which lay over 7,000 feet beneath the surface off the South Carolina coast.

After a $50 million sale of the recovered treasure, the investors who funded the search claimed Thompson didn’t share the profits with them. This led to years of lawsuits, and in 2012, Thompson went on the run. He was finally arrested in Florida in 2015.

Treasure hunter freed after 10 years

As reported by the BBC, 73-year-old Thompson was jailed in 2015 for refusing to disclose where around 500 gold coins from the 1857 shipwreck of the SS Central America – often called the “Ship of Gold” – were located. This was considered a case of civil contempt.

Those coins remain unaccounted for to this day, with no new recoveries reported since his release.

The federal judge has lifted the indefinite sentence for civil contempt, deciding that continuing to imprison the individual wouldn’t force them to reveal where the rest of the gold is hidden.

The lost coins are now valued at tens of millions of dollars. Thompson maintains they were secured in a trust located in Belize, but the initial investors report receiving very little return after covering extensive legal costs.

People are still fascinated by treasures found in shipwrecks. Recently, in 2025, a pirate ship lost in 1721 was found with an estimated $138 million worth of treasure on board.

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2026-03-15 13:48