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Thought this story was interesting:
In the 1980s, Thompson convinced some 160 investors, many from central Ohio or elsewhere in the Buckeye state, to provide money toward his efforts to locate the wreckage of the S.S. Central America.
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In 1988, Thompson was successful in his recovery efforts, locating gold coins and bars with an estimated value of more than $100 million. However, Thompson has not cooperated with efforts to provide the location of the treasure, prompting lawsuits from investors, insurers of the ship and others.
Thompson fled to Florida in 2013 with his girlfriend and hid there for 2½ years before he was arrested.
In 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley in Columbus ordered Thompson to be held in federal prison after finding him in contempt of court until he agreed to give up the treasure's location.
Thompson maintained he had forgotten the location, but Marbley and the plaintiffs believed he was faking. In addition to the prison sentence Thompson just completed, Marbley also ordered Thompson to pay a fine of $1,000 for every day he was imprisoned, and to pay $3,335,000 in civil contempt fines and a $250,000 fine in the criminal contempt case.
In the 1980s, Thompson convinced some 160 investors, many from central Ohio or elsewhere in the Buckeye state, to provide money toward his efforts to locate the wreckage of the S.S. Central America.
***
In 1988, Thompson was successful in his recovery efforts, locating gold coins and bars with an estimated value of more than $100 million. However, Thompson has not cooperated with efforts to provide the location of the treasure, prompting lawsuits from investors, insurers of the ship and others.
Thompson fled to Florida in 2013 with his girlfriend and hid there for 2½ years before he was arrested.
In 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley in Columbus ordered Thompson to be held in federal prison after finding him in contempt of court until he agreed to give up the treasure's location.
Thompson maintained he had forgotten the location, but Marbley and the plaintiffs believed he was faking. In addition to the prison sentence Thompson just completed, Marbley also ordered Thompson to pay a fine of $1,000 for every day he was imprisoned, and to pay $3,335,000 in civil contempt fines and a $250,000 fine in the criminal contempt case.
