A treasure hunter turned fugitive accused of cheating his investors out of the millions he scooped up from a shipwreck has been captured after more than two years on the run.
U.S. marshals arrested Tommy Thompson and his girlfriend, Alison Antekeier, at a hotel in Vero Beach, Florida, after a worldwide search, the agency said Wednesday.
“Thompson was one of the most intelligent fugitives ever sought by the U.S. Marshals and he had vast financial resources at his disposal,” U.S. Marshal Peter Tobin said in a statement. “This investigation and these arrests reflect great credit upon the Deputies of the U.S. Marshals Service and our agency as a whole.”
The arrest is just the latest chapter in a strange legal saga involving one of the most famous shipwrecks in U.S. history.
The SS Central America, also known as the “Ship of Gold,” was a freighter that traveled from Central America to the East Coast.
In 1857, it sank in the Atlantic Ocean during a hurricane with 21 tons of gold in its cargo hold.
The shipwreck, which was the most famous of its century, helped contribute to the economic crisis known as the Panic of 1857.
More than a century later, in 1988, Thompson made history by discovering the shipwreck and recovering gold coins and bars worth up to $400 million.
“Thompson was one of the most intelligent fugitives ever sought by the U.S. Marshals and he had vast financial resources at his disposal,” U.S. Marshal Peter Tobin said in a statement. “This investigation and these arrests reflect great credit upon the Deputies of the U.S. Marshals Service and our agency as a whole.”
The arrest is just the latest chapter in a strange legal saga involving one of the most famous shipwrecks in U.S. history.
In 1857, it sank in the Atlantic Ocean during a hurricane with 21 tons of gold in its cargo hold.
The shipwreck, which was the most famous of its century, helped contribute to the economic crisis known as the Panic of 1857.
More than a century later, in 1988, Thompson made history by discovering the shipwreck and recovering gold coins and bars worth up to $400 million.
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