A former deep-sea treasure hunter who made one of the greatest shipwreck discoveries in American history and spent the past decade in prison after refusing to disclose the whereabouts of some of its missing gold coins is now free.

Tommy Thompson, who in 1988 located what was known as the Ship of Gold off the coast of South Carolina, was released last Wednesday, according to federal Bureau of Prisons records.

Thompson, an Ohio-born research scientist, was hailed as a hero after finding the S.S. Central America and its thousands of pounds of sunken treasure that sat at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for more than 150 years.

But in the decades that followed, he battled with investors who accused him of cheating them out of millions and then spent years on the run as a fugitive before being sent to prison over rebuffing court orders while contending he didn’t know what happened to 500 coins minted from the ship’s gold.

The Central America was filled with a big haul from the California Gold Rush when it sank in a hurricane in 1857. 

A total of 425 people drowned, and thousands of pounds of gold were lost, contributing to an economic panic.

Tommy Thompson, who in 1988 located what was known as the Ship of Gold off the coast of South Carolina, was released last Wednesday, according to federal Bureau of Prisons records

Just a few dozen of the 3,100 coins lost aboard the Central America sit in water baths while being restored at a lab in Santa Ana

This undated drawing made available by the Library of Congress shows the US Mail ship SS Central America, which sank after sailing into a hurricane in September 1857

Investors who backed Thompson’s venture sued him in 2005, saying they had yet to receive any money from the $50 million sale of more than 500 gold bars and thousands of coins – just a part of the ship’s booty.

Thompson, who was living in Florida, went into seclusion and then later became a fugitive when an Ohio federal judge issued a warrant for his arrest in 2012 after he failed to show up in court.

Authorities tracked Thompson to a Florida hotel three years later. The judge then held him in contempt and sent Thompson to prison at the end of 2015 for refusing to answer questions about the location of missing coins.

Thompson, now 73, maintained that the coins – valued then at $2.5 million – were turned over to a trust in Belize and said the $50 million from the sale of the first batch of gold mostly went toward legal fees and bank loans.

He remained locked up even though federal law generally limits jail time for contempt of court to 18 months. 

A federal appeals court in 2019 rejected Thompson’s argument that the law applied to him, saying his refusal violated conditions of a plea agreement.

Thompson (in 1989) is pictured holding a $50 pioneer gold piece which was part of the three tons of gold he retrieved from the shipwreck of the SS Central America in 1988

Thompson (in 1991) was sued by investors who said they paid him $12.7million to find the treasure, but never saw any returns. Thompson went into hiding in 2012 

This is how Tommy Thompson appeared when he was first jailed in 2015

A 1989 photo shows gold bars and coins in situ while they were being recovered by Thompson

The gold remains of a wooden cargo box unearthed from the SS Central America. The gold was unearthed after treasure hunter Tommy Thompson found the ship in 1988

Assorted gold bars recovered from the Central America are seen here. The gold rush-era ship sank in a hurricane off South Carolina in 1857 with thousands of pounds of gold aboard

These gold nuggets, bars and coins from the SS Central America lay on the ocean floor for over 140 years until their recovery in 1987 by US firm Columbus-America Discovery Group

The ‘Ship of Gold’ went down off the coast of North Carolina in 1857 with a cargo of 21 tons of gold Loss of the ship led to ‘Panic of 1857’ – the first world-wide financial crisis

A wanted billboard for Tommy Thompson and longtime partner Alison Antekeier, who went into hiding in 2012 after Thompson’s investors sued him 

The following year, Thompson appeared by video for another hearing where US District Judge Algenon Marbley again asked whether he was ready to address the whereabouts of the gold.

‘Your honor, I don´t know if we’ve gone over this road before or not, but I don’t know the whereabouts of the gold,’ Thompson responded. ‘I feel like I don’t have the keys to my freedom.’

Just over a year ago, Marbley agreed to end Thompson’s sentence on the civil contempt charge, saying he was no longer convinced that keeping him in prison would produce an answer.

The judge then ordered Thompson to immediately start serving a two-year sentence for skipping the 2012 court hearing. 

On Monday, Dwight Manley, a California coin dealer who bought and sold nearly the entire fortune, said that Thompson paid a heavy price over what he said amounted to a business dispute.

Chief scientist Bob Evans looks at gold bars recovered from the S.S. Central America in a laboratory in January 2018, in Santa Ana, California

California Gold Marketing Group’s Dwight Manley examines a gold coin recovered from the wreck. Riches entombed in the wreckage later hit the auction block in December 2022

One of thousands of 1857’s $20 gold pieces (left) salvaged from the SS Central America shipwreck and a gold bar and $50 gold piece (right) also recovered from the wreck

‘Going to prison for 10 years over a business dispute is not America,’ Manley said. ‘People kill people and get out in half the time.’ 

Sentences in civil contempt cases are somewhat indefinite, but they shouldn’t go on forever, said Ryan Scott, a University of Florida law professor who researches contempt law and worked to secure Thompson’s release.

‘It’s very unusual to go on 10 years,’ Scott said.

He said Thompson should have been freed years ago – since at least 2018, after the court dismissed the underlying case – calling it a ‘miscarriage of justice for this to have gone on this long.’