WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A deep-sea treasure hunter who vanished during a court fight over his $50 million haul of gold bars and coins eluded capture by hiding in a tworoom hotel suite under a fake name, paying for everything in cash and keeping a low-profile, authorities said Thursday.
When Tommy Thompson and his longtime companion did leave the hotel room, usually alone and her more than him, they would use a combination of buses, taxis and walking around to shake anyone who might be tailing them.
“That’s all part of the whole tradecraft — trying to fly under the radar of law enforcement,” said Barry Golden of the U.S. Marshals Service in Miami.
Thompson, 62, was wanted after he failed to appear in an Ohio courtroom in 2012 in a lawsuit about the gold he brought up in 1988 from a 19th-century shipwreck. Two investors who had funded Thompson’s dream to find the shipwreck sued, as did some of his crew members, who said they also had been cheated out of their share.
During a brief federal court hearing Thursday, a shackled and bearded Thompson suggested a willingness to fight extradition to Ohio, where he grew up and was based before he moved to Florida in the mid-2000s.
Thompson told U.S. Magistrate Judge Dave Lee Brannon that he has “been very ill for a number of years” with a type of encephalitis, an overactive immune system and allergies that would be exacerbated if he is taken north.
Thompson said he had not yet hired an attorney. He was ordered back into custody, and another hearing was set for Wednesday.