Tommy Thompson’s bizarre odyssey took another twist this week after federal officials arrested the fugitive treasure hunter in Florida, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Thompson is the engineer and undersea explorer who in the 1980s found the wreck of the SS Central America, a U.S. mail steamer that went down off the North Carolina coast in 1857 with 18 tons of gold. Within a few years, Mr. Thompson had recovered more than three tons of gold, silver and other treasures, estimated to be worth at least $100 million. He’s been fighting with former partners and investors ever since. In 2012, a federal judge in Ohio issued arrest warrants for Thompson, who had skipped hearings for a civil case pending since 2006. Creditors of Thompson’s Columbus Exploration LLC, one of whom claimed to be owed nearly $2 million in legal work, sought to force the company into bankruptcy in early 2013 while Thompson was on the run. A couple of months later, a receiver was ordered to take control of the Columbus Exploration and sister company Recovery LP. A judge tossed the cases that September.
