Tommy Thompson: Fugitive treasure hunter arrested by U.S. Marshals in West Boca Raton

[spyguy]

I heard rumors that Thompson was receiving death threats. My theory is this was his primary reason for skipping his OH court date and going on the lam. It's important to point out that this is all he's wanted for at this point. The million$ are simply a business deal gone sour with a they said/he said slant. All of those allegations still need to be proven. I don't think he was a "crook" as alluded to by some or even a con man. Just a brilliant engineer who was a bad business man --- pretty common actually. Maybe he was glad the Feds found him before his enemies did...? I heard that his health had taken a beating in his time on the run, so this may have factored into his egregious lack of caution too. I mean paying in cash at an expensive hotel in the U.S. for 2 solid years with the Feds on your tail is bound to end badly for you. Especially when there are warm places around the world with 5-star hotels near beaches (at a fraction of the cost) that have no extradition treaty with the U.S.
To quote Ben Franklin: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
As for staying in Florida to please his woman or to stay close to his hidden loot, I don't buy either scenario. It will be interesting to see how Thompson's case plays out in the coming months and years....
HH
-spyguy

 

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[old man]

I heard rumors that Thompson was receiving death threats. My theory is this was his primary reason for skipping his OH court date and going on the lam. It's important to point out that this is all he's wanted for at this point. The million$ are simply a business deal gone sour with a they said/he said slant. All of those allegations still need to be proven. I don't think he was a "crook" as alluded to by some or even a con man. Just a brilliant engineer who was a bad business man --- pretty common actually. Maybe he was glad the Feds found him before his enemies did...? I heard that his health had taken a beating in his time on the run, so this may have factored into his egregious lack of caution too. I mean paying in cash at an expensive hotel in the U.S. for 2 solid years with the Feds on your tail is bound to end badly for you. Especially when there are warm places around the world with 5-star hotels near beaches (at a fraction of the cost) that have no extradition treaty with the U.S.
To quote Ben Franklin: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
As for staying in Florida to please his woman or to stay close to his hidden loot, I don't buy either scenario. It will be interesting to see how Thompson's case plays out in the coming months and years....
HH
-spyguy

Nice story, but I personally do not buy it.
If he was receiving death threats he should have went to the FBI. ( most intelligent people would do that.)
If he never paid the investors that paid for the salvage? He is a crook in my book and he hurt everyone in the treasure salvage business, who depends on investors for their projects.

 

[Mackaydon]

What am I missing??
If he were a wanted man and received death threats, why would he go to the FBI to report the threats--when he's wanted by the FBI?
Don...

 

[hobbit]

I believe the simplest explanation is probably the most likely to be true.

Thompson raised 12.7 million from investors in Ohio. These investors were not just looking to get their money back. Remember, in the 80's, a project like this was pretty much a pipe dream. Thompson had to make some fairly hefty promises in order to get that money. What did he promise? 400-500% return on investment? ...maybe more? Plus, he promised the technicians he employed a percentage.

There is no doubt the majority of the gold was sold for $50 million. If you just do a little arithmetic, it is not hard to figure out that once Thompson paid his investors and the technicians, there was going to be precious little remaining.

Thompson was paying a lot of money for the house in Vero. He was paying a ton for the hotel in Boca. He had at least a million in one bank account when the feds raided the house in Vero plus god knows how much cash. Thompson was personally pretty much broke at the time of the expedition. He wasn't a rich man. Where did all this money come from?

The more you hear, "It wasn't about the money", the more you know it WAS about the money, IMHO.

He just wasn't willing to fulfill the promises he made to his employees and investors.

 

[el padron]

I feel a "The famous lost treasure of Tommy Thompson" thread coming on.

 

[old man]

What am I missing??
If he were a wanted man and received death threats, why would he go to the FBI to report the threats--when he's wanted by the FBI?
Don...

Don, from what I read he had a court date and failed to show up for court. Prior to the court date when he was receiving death threats, the FBI was not looking for him and he could have reported those death threats to the FBI.
NOW, he is using the excuse that the reason he did not show up for the court case, is because of death threats.
The fact is, the FBI was never looking for him. The US Marshals were looking for him because he failed to show up for court.

 

[Mackaydon]

old man,
OK; thanks for the clarity.
Best,
Don.......

 

[ARC]

Man Overboard: Tommy Thompson, a Ship of Gold and the Columbus Investors Still Looking for Treasure | Columbus Monthly

 

[el padron]

He can't be that bright. With just a portion of his stash he could have lived a low key existence in Rio akin to a medieval king.
South America has several distinct "advantages" over just about any place in the US pertaining to a single mans potential lifestyle.
I mean some really really significant advantages. It doesn't matter that he looks like Kemper( LOL kidding)
God forbid he actually learned Portuguese or Spanish.

 

[doc-d]

There is more to the story I would guess…….certainly it is the money that will determine if he does jail time or not………
Paying cash for 2 years in the USSA at an expensive hotel?? This would seem to raise a question or two…….

 

[TheHarleyMan2]

I would bet that he has that gold hidden somewhere in Florida. Reading the lastest article on how he and his girl would laeve seperately and go in different directions. He stayed at the hotel for 2 years? Could be possible he found a way to stash some money or gold in the hotel in hidden areas but unlikely. I don't think he has it hidden anywhere around the hotel at all. Being he kept low key, if it was me, I would have it hidden within a few miles and if I had to retrieve any of it I would do it under the cover of darkness. Unlikely to be seen or caught recovering anything. I never been to Boca Raton, but being it is in a beach tourist attraction and someone familure with boating, how many little islands are around the area, secluded spots and river channels, etc.?

His girlfriend could have played a role in selling some of the gold on the black market who knows?

 

[ropesfish]

As far as I know, all you have to do is melt gold into a lump and it is a commodity. I do not believe that "black markets" are needed in Florida. Every other pawn shop has a big sign proclaiming "We buy gold", and a coin is a coin in many places.
Hiding something in Florida? All you need is a lonely sand road and a shovel. There are lots of those, even in the populated parts of Florida.Better than a safe deposit box if you are careful.
Conjecture is just conjecture until the facts come out. So far, though, it has the makings of a great book.
Never forget that not all investors are good guys just as not all treasure hunters/finders are crooks. I will wait to see who the players really are, what the facts are, and what lies are told before I judge Tommy Thompson to be a good guy or a thievin' liar. He did what no one else had done- find and salvage a big portion of the SS Central America. For that he has my admiration.

 

[LM]

My main interest is how he was able to remain liquid as he did, with the coins he presumably had, without raising any eyebrows.

Don't book any action on their NOT being further prosecutions related to money laundering as a result of his time on the lam. When you're racking up six figure hotel bills and most likely paying in cash, between the complicity of a numismatist or gold broker needed to liquidate the bullion/coins and a hotelier willing to accept cash payments for an extremely expensive stay no questions asked, expect the IRS and DHS to start making secondary prosecutions very shortly.

As to whether or not he'll actually do time, the rule is; if you're dealing with the Feds, you're doing time.
You're a FUGITIVE? You get both barrels at sentencing time.

 

[hobbit]

I think people are overplaying the gold angle. Sure, Thompson may have had some gold coins remaining, but he did what he did predominately with cash. He had $420,000 in $100 bills in the hotel room when he was arrested. He had a million in a bogus bank account when the cops raided his love nest in Vero.

The bulk of the gold was sold for $50 million years ago---that's the money that has basically disappeared.

I would love to hear Thompson defenders explain how a man who was basically broke at the time the Central America was discovered came up with all this cash.

 

[el padron]

I would bet that he has that gold hidden somewhere in Florida. Reading the lastest article on how he and his girl would laeve seperately and go in different directions. He stayed at the hotel for 2 years? Could be possible he found a way to stash some money or gold in the hotel in hidden areas but unlikely. I don't think he has it hidden anywhere around the hotel at all. Being he kept low key, if it was me, I would have it hidden within a few miles and if I had to retrieve any of it I would do it under the cover of darkness. Unlikely to be seen or caught recovering anything. I never been to Boca Raton, but being it is in a beach tourist attraction and someone familure with boating, how many little islands are around the area, secluded spots and river channels, etc.?

His girlfriend could have played a role in selling some of the gold on the black market who knows?

A pirate is a pirate. This guy permanently lives in $250 a day hotels.
This in a place that features endless examples of 29.95 a night lodging.
Pirates generally spend their stashes in far less time than it took to actually get possession of them.

 

[old man]

The Feds found $500,000 in his hotel room and still have 3 storage sheds to search. It will be interesting to see what they find in those storage sheds in Florida.

​Fugitive treasure hunter Tommy Thompson will stay in Palm Beach County for now.In federal court Wednesday, he told the judge about an auto immune disease he says will make him very sick if he is extradited to Ohio.
Vero Beach attorney Julia Graves appeared in court to say she will represent Thompson locally, but she has not formally been admitted to the federal bar so she was not allowed to technically appear.
The judge decided to postpone the hearing until next week while Graves researches the case.
U.S. Marshals testified in court they found nearly $500 thousand in cash in the Boca Raton hotel room where they arrested Thompson and his girlfriend Alison Antekeier.
A marshal testified the cash was hidden inside safes in two suitcases.
Also, marshals say there are still at least three South Florida storage units the couple had that have not been searched.
They say they found documents related to asylum and leaving the United States in the hotel room.
Both Antekeier and Thompson will remain in custody with no bond.
Thompson is wanted for failing to appear in court in one of the lengthy legal fights that followed his 1980s discovery of millions of dollars in gold bars and coins from the S.S. Central America, a ship that sank in a hurricane off the North Carolina coast in 1857. Investors say they paid Thompson over twelve million dollars to fund the voyage, but they claim he never paid them back, hid the gold, and didn't show up for court.

 

[spyguy]

The Feds found $500,000 grand in his hotel room and still have 3 storage sheds to search. It will be interesting to see what they find in those storage sheds in Florida.

​Fugitive treasure hunter Tommy Thompson will stay in Palm Beach County for now.In federal court Wednesday, he told the judge about an auto immune disease he says will make him very sick if he is extradited to Ohio.
Vero Beach attorney Julia Graves appeared in court to say she will represent Thompson locally, but she has not formally been admitted to the federal bar so she was not allowed to technically appear.
The judge decided to postpone the hearing until next week while Graves researches the case.
U.S. Marshals testified in court they found nearly $500 thousand in cash in the Boca Raton hotel room where they arrested Thompson and his girlfriend Alison Antekeier.
A marshal testified the cash was hidden inside safes in two suitcases.
Also, marshals say there are still at least three South Florida storage units the couple had that have not been searched.
They say they found documents related to asylum and leaving the United States in the hotel room.
Both Antekeier and Thompson will remain in custody with no bond.
Thompson is wanted for failing to appear in court in one of the lengthy legal fights that followed his 1980s discovery of millions of dollars in gold bars and coins from the S.S. Central America, a ship that sank in a hurricane off the North Carolina coast in 1857. Investors say they paid Thompson over twelve million dollars to fund the voyage, but they claim he never paid them back, hid the gold, and didn't show up for court.

This really reminds me of the capture of fugitive Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger a few years back in Santa Monica, CA. 60 Minutes did a good story on it a while back. There was $800K in cash found in the apartment (along with multiple guns) he was sharing with the woman he'd gone on the lam with 16 years earlier Katherine Grieg. Unlike Thompson, Bulger was a hard-core criminal recently charged with 19 gang-related murders and suspected of more. He was also obviously a lot better than Thompson at living "off the grid." In Thompson's case the old thing about "follow the money" was probably what finally did him in. Again, it boggles the mind why he wouldn't have hauled ass to a foreign country with so many to choose from and so much cash.... A fugitive with BIG bank is exceptionally hard to catch --- just google "John Ruffo." Would love to be able to bid on one of those Thompson storage units around Boca Raton!
HH
-spyguy

 

[el padron]

The Feds found $500,000 in his hotel room and still have 3 storage sheds to search. It will be interesting to see what they find in those storage sheds in Florida.

​Fugitive treasure hunter Tommy Thompson will stay in Palm Beach County for now.In federal court Wednesday, he told the judge about an auto immune disease he says will make him very sick if he is extradited to Ohio.
Vero Beach attorney Julia Graves appeared in court to say she will represent Thompson locally, but she has not formally been admitted to the federal bar so she was not allowed to technically appear.
The judge decided to postpone the hearing until next week while Graves researches the case.
U.S. Marshals testified in court they found nearly $500 thousand in cash in the Boca Raton hotel room where they arrested Thompson and his girlfriend Alison Antekeier.
A marshal testified the cash was hidden inside safes in two suitcases.
Also, marshals say there are still at least three South Florida storage units the couple had that have not been searched.
They say they found documents related to asylum and leaving the United States in the hotel room.
Both Antekeier and Thompson will remain in custody with no bond.
Thompson is wanted for failing to appear in court in one of the lengthy legal fights that followed his 1980s discovery of millions of dollars in gold bars and coins from the S.S. Central America, a ship that sank in a hurricane off the North Carolina coast in 1857. Investors say they paid Thompson over twelve million dollars to fund the voyage, but they claim he never paid them back, hid the gold, and didn't show up for court.

I stand corrected, there might be some serious cash and "things" stashed here and there all around Southern Florida.
That would explain why he stays in the area.

 

[ropesfish]

Thompson may not have both oars digging evenly in the water. Somewhere I saw that the allergen he feared was fiberglass. Yep...those fiberglass trees only grow up there in the Frozen North.
For whatever reason, he did not want to leave Florida. In the parts of Florida I am familiar with, for $100K in cash, dope or negotiable metals you can buy enough ocean going boat to carry all your stuff and a couple of tons of cash, dope or negotiable metals just about anyplace you want to go and for $500 cash/mo rent a dock for said vessel on any one of scores of private docks with an extra slip. Live on it, use it for a storage unit, sail off to Tortuga to become a swashbuckling modern day pirate...all were available options for a guy with tons o' cash.
Still reserving judgement here...just a little of that "innocent until proven guilty thing" still inhabits my dismal little soul.
I'd still buy the drinks if he'll tell his story.

 

[Bum Luck]

Thompson may not have both oars digging evenly in the water. Somewhere I saw that the allergen he feared was fiberglass. Yep...those fiberglass trees only grow up there in the Frozen North.
For whatever reason, he did not want to leave Florida. In the parts of Florida I am familiar with, for $100K in cash, dope or negotiable metals you can buy enough ocean going boat to carry all your stuff and a couple of tons of cash, dope or negotiable metals just about anyplace you want to go and for $500 cash/mo rent a dock for said vessel on any one of scores of private docks with an extra slip. Live on it, use it for a storage unit, sail off to Tortuga to become a swashbuckling modern day pirate...all were available options for a guy with tons o' cash.
Still reserving judgement here...just a little of that "innocent until proven guilty thing" still inhabits my dismal little soul.
I'd still buy the drinks if he'll tell his story.

I think I'm in yer crew on that one.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why he stayed in Florida; makes no sense. Hawaii is an easy place to get lost. Jamaica. Ecuador, Costa Rica. Darn, they're all warm too.