Fugitive treasure hunter finally caught, search for gold continues

Mystery abounds in the case of the gold-hunter finally arrested last week after two years in hiding: Why did Tommy Thompson disappear? What happened to the money? How did he elude investors for so long?

In 1988, Thompson gained fame and fortune when he located a gold-laden 19th-century shipwreck 8,500 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, about 200 miles from the South Carolina coast. He now faces extradition to Ohio for failing to appear in court two years ago to answer charges from his investors.

Thompson’s big prize was known as the Ship of Gold. It sank in a September 1857 hurricane, with 425 lives lost. Tons of California gold were lost as well, bringing on economic panic. The haul included federal gold coins, pioneer gold coins, gold assay bars, gold ingots, gold nuggets, and 1857-S Coronet double eagles.

Just as Thompson, an oceanic engineer, was celebrating his find, 39 insurance companies sued him, claiming they had insured the gold in 1857. The treasure belonged to them, they argued. The court battle raged for years.

In 1996, a court awarded Thompson’s company, Columbus-America Discovery Group, 92 percent of the treasure. Some of the insurers had to settle for dividing up the rest.

A group of 161 investors, mainly from Ohio, who originally gave Thompson about $10 million to research and find the S.S. Central America shipwreck are still calling him to account for gold he recovered and sold without paying them anything back. Thompson held them at bay for years by saying the gold had to be marketed with so much finesse.

Finally in 2000, Thompson’s company sold 532 gold bars and a slew of coins to the California Gold Marketing Group for about $50 million. But by 2005, Thompson’s investors had not yet seen returns. Two sued, and the following year nine members of Thompson’s crew also sued, claiming they also had been promised some proceeds from the treasure.

Now 62, Thompson may finally have to pay the piper. His inglorious arrest came when U.S. Marshals caught up with him Jan. 27 at a Boca Raton Hilton Suites hotel after finding and trailing his live-in assistant, Alison Louise Antekeier, 47. She and Thompson had been holed up for two years at the Hilton under a fake name, paying cash for everything. The Marshals said Thompson was brilliant at evading them.

Only hours after Thompson’s arrest, former associates went after their share of the treasure. They began to file subpoenas to get any information showing how Thompson could live cash-only in a hotel.

“If he has millions of dollars of cash hidden somewhere, if he has 500 gold coins hidden somewhere, those are assets he needs to answer questions about,” said Mike Szolosi, a Columbus, Ohio, attorney representing nine sonar analysts who worked with Thompson to locate the shipwreck.

Before his arrest, Thompson was last spotted in 2012 at a mansion in Vero Beach, Florida. He had rented it since 2006. He was disheveled and only clothed in dirty underwear and socks. He reportedly paid the monthly $3,000 rent with cash and kept the utilities in the landlord’s name. Authorities say they found a book at the home entitled How to Live Your Life Invisible describing how to get by only on cash. Besides his reading material, there were bank wraps for $10,000 as well as metal pipes possibly used to store money underground, and 12 active cellphones, specifically assigned to different attorneys or family members.

Thompson’s 2000 gold sale was thought to be the largest numismatic (coin) transaction in history. His attorneys and supporters maintain the treasure hunter hasn’t bilked anyone, claiming most of the sale proceeds went to repay loans and legal fees spanning decades.

The couple are now being held without bond, Antekeier on a civil contempt charge and Thompson on a criminal contempt charge. He has not been charged with a crime over his handling of proceeds from the gold.

But it seems certain, despite all his brilliance, Thompson never got over being bitten by the gold bug.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.