Tommy

liverock · Mar 11, 2026

is out......where is the au?

MiddenMonster · Mar 13, 2026

It made Not the Bee today. 10 years without being charged. That's hard cheese, man:

Famed treasure hunter Tommy Thompson finally released from prison after 10 years served without charges

Mackaydon · Mar 13, 2026

Ten years is also 'hard time'.
Don in SoCal

Crow · Mar 13, 2026

It just goes to show what the state and its legal system will do if it does not get what it wants. without impunity.

That is why I live in exile.

Crow

MiddenMonster · Mar 14, 2026

Mackaydon said:
Ten years is also 'hard time'.

It's even flirting with political prisoner territory, but I don't know all the details of the case.

UnderMiner · Mar 14, 2026

MiddenMonster said:
It's even flirting with political prisoner territory, but I don't know all the details of the case.

I heard he salvaged gold from a wreck but then some ancient old insurance company tried to claim ownership of it. The catch was if Tommy revealed the location of the gold it would be seized but if he didn't then he couldn't repay those who financed his salvage expeditions so he was screwed either way, so instead he went on the lamb until the government caught him. They held him in a jail cell for ten years without trial hoping he would reveal the location of the loot but he never did.

MiddenMonster · Mar 14, 2026

UnderMiner said:
so he was screwed either way, so instead he went on the lamb until the government caught him.

Unless you are going to be executed so it doesn't matter, it's always a mistake to lam. Better to hire a lawyer and make some kind of deal, even if it sucks. From what I know of insurance companies, they play hardball, but they also like money so they are likely to make a deal. If he made a deal that got his investors paid and he got $1 he wouldn't have spent 10 years in the Greystone and he would still have had bragging rights and street cred. On the other hand, if he's the only one who knows where the wreck is, he still has some leverage and he may have concluded that for the amount of money involved, 10 years was worth it. I wouldn't have tilted that way for any amount of money, but to each his own.

UnderMiner · Mar 15, 2026

MiddenMonster said:
Unless you are going to be executed so it doesn't matter, it's always a mistake to lam. Better to hire a lawyer and make some kind of deal, even if it sucks. From what I know of insurance companies, they play hardball, but they also like money so they are likely to make a deal. If he made a deal that got his investors paid and he got $1 he wouldn't have spent 10 years in the Greystone and he would still have had bragging rights and street cred. On the other hand, if he's the only one who knows where the wreck is, he still has some leverage and he may have concluded that for the amount of money involved, 10 years was worth it. I wouldn't have tilted that way for any amount of money, but to each his own.

The problem is, since he was never convicted of a crime, he could try to get the gold now, but get arrested again for the same crime and double jeopardy wouldn't apply because he was never convicted the first time around. Arguably he has a good chance of winning a lawsuit for constitutional rights violation which could pay out more than the value of the gold, now that would be ironic and maybe the root cause of his ambivalence to being locked up - he knows he's rich either way and has the finances, covert or otherwise, to back up his gargantuan legal fees. Also ironic, the gold he's hiding is now intrinsically worth at least 4 times more than when he first found it due to the recent surge in gold prices, being locked up merely guaranteed he became richer in the long run.

MiddenMonster · Mar 15, 2026

UnderMiner said:
Arguably he has a good chance of winning a lawsuit for constitutional rights violation which could pay out more than the value of the gold, now that would be ironic and maybe the root cause of his ambivalence to being locked up - he knows he's rich either way and has the finances, covert or otherwise, to back up his gargantuan legal fees. Also ironic, the gold he's hiding is now intrinsically worth at least 4 times more than when he first found it due to the recent surge in gold prices, being locked up merely guaranteed he became richer in the long run.

Even if that's all true, he still wrote a check for 10 years. How many people here would be willing to do (and by "do" I mean lose) 10 years for a billion dollars? Or even 10 billion dollars? I don't think I could do that for any amount of money. And that would be true whether I was 20 at the time or 70. The old oilfield wildcatters showed us that money comes and goes many times over, but time only goes. Even if they put you in suspended animation for those 10 years, the world doesn't stop. You'd be lost in the world until you figured out a way to catch up. But I do admit that would take a bit of the sting off of it to still be 20 when they woke you up 10 years later.

ToddsPoint · Mar 16, 2026

There are convicted murderers that do less than 10 yrs. This is nothing more than retaliation under color of law. Extreme civil rights violation. He should sue. If I was on the jury, it wouldn’t end well for the government.😡

Darren in NC · Mar 16, 2026

Through the years...

MiddenMonster · Mar 19, 2026

Wow! Prison has a way of really aging someone. He should have just claimed that the gold was "lost in a boating accident", the traditional and acceptable way banned firearms are usually lost. :laughing7:

releventchair · Mar 19, 2026

Gold is ; where you find it.

Enjoy the free air Tommy.

pepperj · Mar 19, 2026

Average Yearly Awards: In the U.S., civil suits have resulted in an average of approximately $320,000 per year of incarceration.

So if no legal fees were paid he might get $3.2 million.
Now in questionable health, so really what did he actually loose over those 10 years.

Gold Maven · Mar 19, 2026

it's too bad, he is a straight up genius.
Ship of gold in the deep blue sea. Awesome story.
invented gps anchoring.
designed a remote recovery vehicle for a depth 3 times as deep as anyone before.

Prairie Gazingfox · Mar 19, 2026

But he didn't know it was gonna be 10 years
Maybe he was Envisioning 3 or 4 max. Maybe 5.
And him observing how they treated him and how they unprofessionally treated the topic of his success, I think his pride decided it would violate him as a professional and human being to just spit out all the information and Relinquish. . ..
And him seeing how they treated the long Path to his discovery, he just,decided ( or was left with the only choice ) to swallow and swallow denigrating of his Path to the discovery
And I am 90 % sure, most of the gold wouldn't have entered circulation. But would have been kept in nylon bags or metal cases forever.
Forever under review and examination??

He should have told them : I wiill reveal the location but you guarantee me that 30 to 70 % will go to Charity and I keep at least 10 to 30 %
Or to give him 1 %.
Something!
I would have gone for 1/8 of a % myself.

Crow · Mar 19, 2026

When you take on the state. It ages you, drains the life out of you, because lawyers are vampires.

Crow

ropesfish · Mar 27, 2026

To Tommy "Harvey" Thompson: You are cordially invited to attend the 16th Treasure Hunter's Cookout and Reunion at the Kiwanis Hobart Park SW of the Pennwood on April 26 of this year as well as any other hoe-down, wing-ding, seminar, symposium or drinking competition I might hold in the future. I'll save a plate of ribs for you.
Sincerely,
Bill Black

ConceptualizedNetherlandr · Mar 27, 2026

I'll admit I am new to this thing. Quick review of search yields numbers all over the place as to what the booty was. How much gold is at play. Is any left?

I am not a fan of being incarcerated for not speaking. Nor am I a fan of the gov having that ability.

What certainty is there of the gold, it's travel path and even existence. Manifest of record?

Was the gold transported over land then loaded on a ship or did it circumvent the Cape Horn?

This might be well known. But not to me yet. So fill me in

ropesfish · Mar 28, 2026

ConceptualizedNetherlandr said:
I'll admit I am new to this thing. Quick review of search yields numbers all over the place as to what the booty was. How much gold is at play. Is any left?

I am not a fan of being incarcerated for not speaking. Nor am I a fan of the gov having that ability.

What certainty is there of the gold, it's travel path and even existence. Manifest of record?

Was the gold transported over land then loaded on a ship or did it circumvent the Cape Horn?

This might be well known. But not to me yet. So fill me in