Treasure Hunter Released After 10 Years; 500 Gold Coins Linked to Belize Still Missing

Thomas G. “Tommy” Thompson, the deep-sea explorer who discovered the historic S.S. Central America shipwreck, has been released from prison after serving nearly a decade behind bars for contempt of court. But hundreds of gold coins he claimed were tied to a trust in Belize remain unaccounted for.

Thompson, 73, was freed on March 4 after completing a 10-year sentence stemming from his refusal to disclose the whereabouts of 500 missing gold coins recovered from the wreck of the SS Central America.

The steamship, often referred to as the “Ship of Gold,” sank in 1857 during a hurricane while transporting tons of California gold. More than 400 people died in the disaster. Thompson located the wreck off the coast of South Carolina in 1988, uncovering treasure later valued in the tens of millions of dollars.

The discovery initially made Thompson famous, but it also triggered years of legal battles. In 2005, investors who financed the expedition sued him, claiming they had not received proceeds from an estimated $50 million sale of recovered gold.

After failing to appear in court in 2012, a warrant was issued for Thompson’s arrest. He was captured in 2015 and later held in contempt for refusing to cooperate in efforts to recover 500 gold coins missing from the trove.

Thompson has consistently maintained that the coins, described as commemorative “restrikes”, were turned over to a trustee in Belize around 2009. He has repeatedly said he does not know their current location.

Although a contempt order against him was lifted in 2024, Thompson remained incarcerated to complete a separate two-year sentence for failing to appear in court. He now faces one year of supervised release and $250,000 in fines.