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Treasure Hunter Must Pay Up After Cheating Investors
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio jury has found that a treasure hunter cheated investors out of gold found in a shipwreck off the South Carolina coast.
The Columbus Dispatch reports the Franklin County jury on Wednesday awarded $19.4 million to Dispatch Printing Company and a court-appointed receiver representing other investors. The investors sued Tommy Thompson in 2005 after he sold gold bars and thousands of coins for about $50 million.
Thompson has been jailed since 2015 for violating terms of a plea deal by refusing to answer questions about the location of 500 missing gold coins.
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs argued Thompson lied to investors and hid assets.
Thompson found the S.S. Central America in 1988 after convincing more than 100 investors to fund the voyage for nearly $13 million.