What Really Ever Happened to Tommy Thompson???

[dcrooks]

Tommy is with Jimmy Hoffa...dancing in their new concrete boots with Davy Jones and both victims of the mob!

 

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[NeilAve]

Re: What Really Ever Happened to Tommy Thomson

Did anyone on here know him personally and know if he had any recognizable tattoos on his arms?

Bran <><

I knew Tom Thompson when I lived on Neil Ave. in Columbus. He would work out of the home of an attorney who lived a little over a block up the street from me. This was in the time period 1978-80. I would see him riding on his little motor scooter up Neil Ave. He was very secretive about his work. He was very reluctant to have me even come around him when he was working. He was about 30 years old then, so he would be about 62 now. I didn't have a very high opinion of him; too secretive and just didn't seem trustworthy. Hopefully, my opinion of him is not colored too much by the contents of the paragraph below.

Much better than Thompson himself, I knew his (I assume now ex-)wife Collette much better as we dated casually during this period before they married. In all the material I have seen written about Thompson, I have never seen any mention of Collette or of their three children. Collette lived about five blocks up the street from me on Neil Ave. It was clear that I was # 2 as far as she was concerned, but she would see me when Thompson was out of town, which was much of the time. Collette always referred to Thompson as "Harvey." After they married around 1980 I would see her, and later with their children, sometimes with him, on the street near my house. She run a little cafe on an alley behind Neil for a while. It seems she moved from Neil Ave. in the mid '80s. I only saw her twice after she moved, once in the mid '80s when I was riding my bike along a bike path, and another time in an auto repair shop in the late '80s. Both of these times it appeared that she was living a very modest lifestyle. I didn't ask her anything about Thompson either of these times or whether she was still married to him as I thought it might be a touchy subject. I moved from Columbus 20 years ago and have not heard anything from her since.

Here is a link to Collette's father's obituary from the funeral home in Youngstown, OH. Note that Collette's last name (apparently it reverted to Davidson) is not given but the the last names of her children are listed with the name Thompson.

http://obit.higgins-reardon.com/obitdisplay.html?task=Print&id=783941

I also knew one of the directors of Recovery Limited Partnership and Columbus Exploration, Gilman D. Kirk. Kirk was a former member and contributor to an athletic club that I coached. He owned and managed large residential real estate holdings and had an interest in auto racing. I always thought him to be honest and got along with him well. Here is a link to an article in the Columbus Dispatch that mentions Kirk.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2009/01/11/gold_ship.ART_ART_01-11-09_B3_EDCGKGR.html

 

[osu1972]

Tommy Thompson was one of the first guys I met at Ohio State. I had the pleasure of getting to know one of the great minds I will know in this lifetime. When the old gang found out what he had discovered in the late 80's, no one was surprised. He has the mentality to think outside the box, and we all knew whatever he did would be great.

What no one seems to understand is Tommy Thompson is not a "treasure hunter". He is a scientist. The greatest think tanks in the world have asked for him to speak regarding the devices he used/ created decades before their time. He can't because of the "money".

His professors at OSU will say he has passion, and is brilliant.

He made a great discovery of gold in a sunken ship 8,000 feet below the surface. He also discovered species that are not known to man. The gold was a great find and it brought out the vultures, but in Tommy's mind, it's about the discoveries. Money never meant much to him, it's the discovery.

He is a scientist and if the litigation could leave him alone, perhaps he could further pursue the species discovered and find cures for the medical field. Shame on all of the lawyers, insurance companies, and vultures, that stood on dry land with their hands out. Shame on them for pursuing the money when everyone of us have been effected by incurable medical problems. Harvey knows the answers lie in the oceans.

He has a once in a lifetime brain that can find cures to ailments with the discoveries he has found. This fact haunts him more than any amount of gold. Painfully he says "It's all about the money". Anyone that knows Tommy Thompson, knows money means nothing to him. Call him quirky, call him secretive, but don't call him a thief. He's brilliant, and if left alone could change the world.

I truly hope Harvey is on some research vessel pursuing his passion. Working in a cramped lab, with a wrinkled shirt on, and doing what he was born to do. For the sake of all of us, I wish him well.

 

[capt dom]

Tommy Thompson was one of the first guys I met at Ohio State. I had the pleasure of getting to know one of the great minds I will know in this lifetime. When the old gang found out what he had discovered in the late 80's, no one was surprised. He has the mentality to think outside the box, and we all knew whatever he did would be great.

What no one seems to understand is Tommy Thompson is not a "treasure hunter". He is a scientist. The greatest think tanks in the world have asked for him to speak regarding the devices he used/ created decades before their time. He can't because of the "money".

His professors at OSU will say he has passion, and is brilliant.

He made a great discovery of gold in a sunken ship 8,000 feet below the surface. He also discovered species that are not known to man. The gold was a great find and it brought out the vultures, but in Tommy's mind, it's about the discoveries. Money never meant much to him, it's the discovery.

He is a scientist and if the litigation could leave him alone, perhaps he could further pursue the species discovered and find cures for the medical field. Shame on all of the lawyers, insurance companies, and vultures, that stood on dry land with their hands out. Shame on them for pursuing the money when everyone of us have been effected by incurable medical problems. Harvey knows the answers lie in the oceans.

He has a once in a lifetime brain that can find cures to ailments with the discoveries he has found. This fact haunts him more than any amount of gold. Painfully he says "It's all about the money". Anyone that knows Tommy Thompson, knows money means nothing to him. Call him quirky, call him secretive, but don't call him a thief. He's brilliant, and if left alone could change the world.

I truly hope Harvey is on some research vessel pursuing his passion. Working in a cramped lab, with a wrinkled shirt on, and doing what he was born to do. For the sake of all of us, I wish him well.

Well stated and said...

 

[reporterkathy]

I'm a newspaper reporter in Columbus Ohio covering the Tommy Thompson lawsuits. See my latest story about where Tommy has been living for the last six years at Wanted salvager tracked to Florida | The Columbus Dispatch

He's been living in a mansion in Vero Beach, Fla., paying $3,000 in rent monthly, all in cash, and had covered all the air-conditioning vents with plastic and tape. He fled in August and attorneys are trying to get court permission to go through all the stuff he left behind, including the trash.

 

[ropesfish]

I've got no opinion on what Mr. Thompson did or didn't do, but I am sure of one thing: In Vero Beach, $3000 a month doesn't get you a mansion.

 

[Bum Luck]

He's running for US Senate in Wisconsin.

 

[capt dom]

Now I have heard some bizarre stories out there....

Does anyone have the real sccop?

If you are out there and follow this site, Tommy send me an email at [email protected]
I know what it is like to have a bulls eye drawn on to your back!

 

[Bum Luck]

Tommy Thompson was one of the first guys I met at Ohio State. I had the pleasure of getting to know one of the great minds I will know in this lifetime. When the old gang found out what he had discovered in the late 80's, no one was surprised. He has the mentality to think outside the box, and we all knew whatever he did would be great.

What no one seems to understand is Tommy Thompson is not a "treasure hunter". He is a scientist. The greatest think tanks in the world have asked for him to speak regarding the devices he used/ created decades before their time. He can't because of the "money".

His professors at OSU will say he has passion, and is brilliant.

He made a great discovery of gold in a sunken ship 8,000 feet below the surface. He also discovered species that are not known to man. The gold was a great find and it brought out the vultures, but in Tommy's mind, it's about the discoveries. Money never meant much to him, it's the discovery.

He is a scientist and if the litigation could leave him alone, perhaps he could further pursue the species discovered and find cures for the medical field. Shame on all of the lawyers, insurance companies, and vultures, that stood on dry land with their hands out. Shame on them for pursuing the money when everyone of us have been effected by incurable medical problems. Harvey knows the answers lie in the oceans.

He has a once in a lifetime brain that can find cures to ailments with the discoveries he has found. This fact haunts him more than any amount of gold. Painfully he says "It's all about the money". Anyone that knows Tommy Thompson, knows money means nothing to him. Call him quirky, call him secretive, but don't call him a thief. He's brilliant, and if left alone could change the world.

I truly hope Harvey is on some research vessel pursuing his passion. Working in a cramped lab, with a wrinkled shirt on, and doing what he was born to do. For the sake of all of us, I wish him well.

Money is the curse of the thinking class.

For Tommy, it was a necessary vehicle to attain his research goals, but it crashed on him.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

May I offer a sidelight on the Central America case?

It has been well-established maritime law that an insurance company that paid a claim retained the salvage rights to the wreck and her cargo. Joe Gores wrote a fabulous book on the subject: Marine Salvage; The Unforgiving Business of No Cure, No Pay (1971) - highly recommended!

The US Government overturned centuries (not decades - centuries) of this international law - but that's also another story.

Back to my story. The Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company paid the claim on the Central America loss. Well-established firm - still in business and always kept excellent records. If you've ever worked for an insurance company you know they do.

After the discovery was announced Atlantic Mutual went into its files to pull the documents to file its claim. The wreck and the cargo was theirs. The files were gone. Earlier files? Still there. Later files. Same thing.

The Central America files? Gone like the buffalo...

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Old Bookaroo]

shipper:

Which insurance companies "destroyed documents." With all due respect, I don't believe that is what the Atlantic Mutual insurance company did.

Additionally, I cannot agree with you that the insurance companies were desperate. International salvage law was well established.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Salvor6]

Shipper I also heard that Thompson did not recover everything. Is there any gold still left on the wreck?

 

[allen_idaho]

Shipper I also heard that Thompson did not recover everything. Is there any gold still left on the wreck?

I can answer that one for you. There is still gold on the wreck. Only a portion of the original cargo was recovered, weighing in at around 3 tons worth. That treasure was sold for $52 million.
The ship itself carried somewhere around 18 tons of treasure.

The insurance companies that paid out for the loss of the ship and the cargo were awarded 7.8% of all gold recovered.

The problem is that Thompson's expedition was completely funded by investors. He didn't pay anything. And when he got that money, the investors didn't see a dime. He took the money and disappeared. He still owes the promised percentage to his 161 investors.

 

[LM]

Given the context clues left in Vero, I think we can all safely assume a large portion of what happened.
He wasn't paying $3000 a month rent in cash for 6 years because he figured out how to grow a money tree.
I think its a pretty safe bet that number of gold coins came up and were quietly set aside. I think everyone assumes he has a significant cache of gold coins. I mean, the US Marshalls don't put people on billboards for "Contempt of Court" very often.

Opinions of the guy seem to vary wildly. Respect to him as an accomplished TH'er, the investor side is very unfortunate.

 

[BVI Hunter]

Not being from the US, I had never heard of this guy - so I Googled him and then bought an out of print book titled SHIP OF GOLD IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA, and all I can say after finishing it (in about 2 days!) is that he had great vision, great passion and seems the sort of guy I would liked to have worked with on a big adventure!!

I mean. imaging seeing piles of gold bars and refusing to touch one for weeks until you had photographed and recorded everything!!

not sure what happened with all the investors / court stuff in the end but it was a great story!!

 

[4justice4tom]

Columbus Dispatch is a media mogul in Ohio who is one of the 2 investors out of nearly 300 who are Suing Columbus Discovery Group. They are leading the slander regarding Thompson and THEY bought the fugitive billboards not US Marshals. Thompson is a brilliant scientist and a man of integrity who has been smeared and slammed by American Greed at every turn and from every angle. And now, because missed a courtdate is being slandered by CD. An ugly story, a story fueled by greed and funded by Corporate America and the 99 percent. You can't squeeze water from a stone, or gold from a scientist you destroyed financially,mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

 

[4justice4tom]

Thank you, who he is has been lost in the crazy media spin.

 

[Darren in NC]

Welcome to Tnet. What you're saying may be so, but why hasn't he turned himself in? Does he need to run in order to gather evidence to clear his name?

 

[G.I.B.]

Thank you, who he is has been lost in the crazy media spin.

I'm in St. Pete and I'd love to have beer to two with you.

PM me.

 

[Boatlode]

My guess is he's somewhere warm where there is no extradition.