The Ohio company owned by a fugitive treasure hunter is fighting to gain control over recently recovered gold from a ship that sank off the South Carolina coast in 1857.
Columbus-America Discovery Group argues in a Thursday filing that it has the exclusive rights to the sunken SS Central America. The company is owned by Tommy Thompson, the Ohio shipwreck enthusiast who led the 1987 expedition that first found the Central America and recovered gold that sold for $50 million to $60 million. Investors of the expedition never saw a return and Thompson is considered a wanted fugitive. Last month, deep-sea explorers with Tampa, Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration returned to the shipwreck and began recovering more gold under a contract with a court-appointed receiver over one of Thompson's other companies.