01x03 - The Manhunt

[bunniefuu]

Tommy Thompson

has discovered

one of the greatest treasures

of all time.

You mentioned

a fairytale,

well, this is the end

of the rainbow.

But the gold

distorted people.

It warped behaviors,

it drove people to do things

they normally wouldn't do.

Thompson

has been described

as a brilliant treasure hunter,

but also a thief and conman.

He has taken the coins

and not informed the board.

$2.5 million

of pristine gold coins.

Tommy Thompson

hasn't been seen.

Now, no one

can find Thompson.

The hunter

has become the hunted.

Now Thompson's

a fugitive from justice.

Where are the coins?

The only person

who knows is Tommy.

The moment

Thompson skipped out

on court proceedings,

investors were interested

in finding him.

The US Marshals Service

is eager to do it.

Every investigation

starts the same.

What you have to do

is you have to figure out

who this person is, you know,

what are they like,

uh, background.

You know, what sort of resources

do they have available to them,

and then you start

to take it from there.

Mr. Thompson was probably

one of the hardest people

I've ever looked for

and probably one of the toughest

cases I've ever been a part of.

Tommy had disappeared.

He was gone, and he did not

want to be found.

So, I start visiting any number

of different members

of the company, friends, family.

No,

we did not know where he was.

We were worried.

I believe that

Tommy had fled with the gold

and had gone to the Bahamas

and was probably on his way

to South America.

He probably went

to Colombia

or some place in the Caribbean.

I visit Mr. Robol,

the attorney.

Very, very close friend

of Tommy.

No, I had

zero contact with him.

I did not know where he was.

It's getting nowhere,

because either they don't want

to say anything,

or just they

didn't know anything.

I have

no idea where Tommy is.

I suspect he'll never be found.

Tommy's

disappearance was mind-boggling

in a sense that

what is he hiding?

Why is he running from the law?

Maybe he has stolen

the gold coins.

There was no concrete evidence

that Tommy had done

anything wrong

until 500 gold coins

ended up missing.

They were all that remained

of the treasure

and worth

an estimated $2.5 million.

Tommy had taken them

as unpaid salary,

but the judge said

he needed to hand them over.

He was given the coins,

he paid taxes on 'em,

because he hadn't been paid

a salary for many years.

The only

reason why he had fled

is he had to report

where the coins were.

It confirmed in my mind

that he had flat out

just stolen the coins

and to hell with the investors.

That is the image

that the media was projecting

about Tommy Thompson, and it's

because it's a delicious story.

Here you have this pirate

who finds all this gold,

but he keeps it all for himself.

He has all these people

who believed in him.

He's just giving them the finger

and he's headed off

into the sunset.

And none of that is true.

It was never

about gold for Tommy.

He's a good man.

He's a man of integrity.

I thought maybe he just

couldn't take it anymore

and left the country because

we as a family used to say,

"How are you standing this, Tom?

You don't have a life."

They just kept coming after him.

Everybody from everywhere

was suing him.

We were kind of stalled

and we started looking

at different things,

and originally,

when Mr. Thompson

didn't show up for court,

three different attorneys

showed up.

Why did you folks know

to be here,

but yet Mr. Thompson saying

he didn't know

he was supposed to be here?

"Oh, well, they didn't talk

to Mr. Thompson,

they talked to his assistant,

Miss Antekeier."

And so I start to look

for Alison Antekeier,

and it quickly becomes apparent

that she's followed

the same playbook.

She's disappeared.

I've never

told this story before.

But now it's time to tell

my side of the story

and allow people to see the

truth of what really happened.

Day to day,

I would answer phones,

communicate with partners,

communicate with attorneys.

There were always

attorneys back then.

Eventually we went from working

together and being colleagues

to developing a more special

bond and friendship.

He's the most intelligent person

I've ever met.

He's got a magnetic personality.

And at some point,

I realized that I loved him,

but it wasn't

an in-love sort of situation.

It's

I believe it's

a lot deeper than that.

Everybody just figured

we had left the country,

and I think they were kind of

hoping we had, actually.

This couple

moved in, into Gracewood

and started to stay here.

They were very withdrawn

and quiet, they didn't come out.

Only the gentleman of the two

would come out once in a while.

The man struck me very odd.

We called him

the Nutty Professor.

He had bushy, crazy hair,

blown out like this.

It was crazy.

He came out

onto the deck one day

wearing nothing but underwear

and a pair of black shoes.

It was more disturbing

than funny.

He was, you know, not like

the little old man that forgets

and puts his shirt on

inside out, you know,

because of his memory.

He seemed more broken than that.

There was an unsettling vibe

about him.

He had a row

of computers, laptop,

all connected to each other.

And it seemed like that's

what was consuming his time.

And the lawsuits

at this point

had been going on for so long.

And Tom's health was declining.

Tom told me

that he had this disease.

It was called chronic fatigue.

I think that the pressure from

the lawsuits did exacerbate it.

Most people

with this disease

are bed-bound.

The worst thing about it,

if you try to get better,

if you try to push yourself,

it works just the opposite.

I was in bed

for a very long time.

Tommy had to go

to Florida.

It was just a better environment

for his health.

When the court ordered Tom

to appear,

there was no way that he could

make a trip to Ohio,

and I knew that his health

was in jeopardy at that point.

There was no choice.

Did you know

that the authorities

were looking for you?

Could you tell us about that?

I didn't know.

I didn't know the authorities

were looking for us.

But a little bit down the line?

I assumed, I guess

I assumed that they were.

But I didn't know

to what extent.

So, we came one day,

had to pick up the rent.

But they'd gone.

We had to open up the door.

I'm starting to think maybe

he was hiding out here.

Back then, it was

nothing like this.

This house was destroyed.

It was covered in garbage

of every sort.

One of the things that we found

here was a lot of books.

They were all the same.

The book said on the front,

"Ship of Gold,"

inside said "Tommy Thompson."

I didn't know who Tommy was.

I type in "Tommy Thompson,"

and it all started

to fall together.

The Nutty Professor

was Tommy Thompson.

The man that was wanted

for running away and stealing

everybody's money and gold.

And gold makes people crazy.

After I had figured out

who Tommy Thompson was,

I called the US Marshal.

Local Marshals officer

got out there

as quickly as they could.

But we just missed him.

Almost like you walk

into a house

and you feel the tea kettle

and it's warm,

as if they just

picked up and left.

With Gracewood,

that's where we really started

to make some progress.

I'm gathering evidence,

I'm seeing a lot of stuff.

There was all these bins

full of, like, multi-vitamins

and different medications.

We start finding a series

of all these different phones

and burner phones.

And then there was money straps.

The straps that go around stacks

of cash, they were everywhere.

And here's the thing that turned

it for me, was the playbook,

How To Be Invisible

by J.J. Luna.

Basically, here's

what you have to do

to make sure that the government

can't find you

if you are doing something,

you just don't want to be found.

And so, Mr. Thompson

would always use cash,

and it was very obvious because

that's how they paid rent.

Because if you have

a credit card,

it can be traced.

It was a watershed moment

for me,

and that's when I realized

this is gonna take some time.

Because he doesn't want

to be caught.

You know, he may be crazy,

but he's crazy like a fox.

With these

new developments,

of course the question

on everybody's mind is,

"Where does Tommy get

all of this cash from?"

And people inevitably come up

with some very different

answers.

You know,

I wouldn't be surprised

if he had the gold coins

melted down.

I mean, you could go around

to a pawnshop here or there

and sprinkle gold and get a lot

of money, get a lot of cash.

It was nothing like that.

Tommy didn't need

to melt down the coins.

His company paid him

a big salary for enough years

to earn him

well over $2 million.

All that he ever had

was his own money.

Now, if you receive $250,000

for most of 20 years,

that's a lot of money.

He was in charge

of an operation

that has received $22 million

of investor money.

I mean, you do that,

you have obligations.

You can't run to Florida

and hide from them.

So, after Gracewood,

Tommy and Alison

had disappeared.

I have no idea where they're at.

We know he's got

a lot of money available

'cause you're just

doing the math.

Added into the mix of it,

he's probably one

of the most brilliant people

I've ever looked for,

and it made it

a lot more difficult.

Tommy, if he

doesn't want to be found,

he'll research it,

he will find every source

of information on how to hide,

and he'll do that.

It turns out

that the same mind

that makes someone

the right candidate

for tracking down a sunken ship

would also perhaps be

very well put to use

if you needed to make

yourself disappear.

So then, you kind of want

to escalate a little bit.

And so my next step was,

let's try to put up

the billboards

and see if that works.

Now for local news,

a treasure hunter

who had once lived

near Vero Beach

is now wanted by the FBI.

Digital billboards are going up

in Ohio and here in Florida

to publicize the face

of Tommy Thompson.

As soon as Tommy

seemed to have hit the road,

a media storm explodes.

"Brilliant scientist

turned criminal,

inventor turned fugitive,

the hunter becomes the hunted."

It completely transforms

the public perception

of Tommy Thompson.

It's just a gigantic sign.

I saw it on several locations.

Big and bold.

It was gratifying to see

that they're moving on

trying to apprehend him.

You know, he needs to be held

accountable for his actions.

I was surprised

by the billboards, frankly.

You know, this was

a civil matter, as I thought it.

You know, failure

to appear in court

is something that happens

frequently

in all of the courts

of the United States.

We were living off the grid

after we left Vero Beach.

I didn't use my real name,

and Tom didn't use

his real name.

He rarely left the hotel room,

except to go to his doctors

once in a while.

We stayed within

several miles of my doctors.

If we wanted to leave

the country,

we could have easily left

the country.

This wasn't the mission.

The mission was,

this gold isn't going to do you

any good if you're dead.

It was very stressful.

It was lonely, it felt isolated,

even though we were

in the middle of a city.

But at least we had each other.

It has now been seven years

since one of Tommy's

biggest investors, John Wolfe,

filed a lawsuit to find out

what happened to all the money.

And the person who's supposed

to be in charge of the companies

is a fugitive from justice.

And so, the frustration

by 2012 is immense.

Well, it's important

to point out

that of all of the hundreds

of investors that were involved,

only two of those investors

filed suits against Tommy,

one of them being John F. Wolfe.

So, Mr. Wolfe

and his lawyers,

they asked the court

to appoint a receiver

to take over Tommy's companies,

to take over

the investor's investment.

Um, this is everything

that the receiver

finally got his hands on.

Everything that was seized.

You see boxes from 1990, these

are the organizational records,

these are records of

the recovery efforts themselves,

there's videotape here.

The mission of the receiver

is to take all the assets,

sell 'em all and turn

everything into cash

and pay the people

that are owed money.

But there is a twist

with this receivership,

because it turns out

Tommy's companies

did own million of dollars'

worth of assets.

It's just that they were

8,000 feet under the ocean,

down at the wreck site

of the SS Central America.

When Tommy found

the Central America,

he brought back

about three tons of gold,

but there was more gold

on the bottom

because the insurance companies

had sued

and nobody knew who owned it.

He wanted to go back and get it

for the investors,

but the lawsuits stopped him.

What we call

the garden of gold

on the shipwreck,

we buried that before we left.

It would take someone else

a lot of money,

a lot of know-how

and a lot of time

even to locate the wreck,

much less dig into it.

The judge issued an order

that gave the receiver authority

to salvage the gold

and sell it

to pay the investors.

Tommy would have

been distraught

over having someone else go down

on that site to pick up gold

and maybe destroy everything

he had worked so hard for.

And there's nothing

he can do about it.

Explorers

are recovering a treasure

of gold and silver

worth millions of dollars

from a ship that went down

off the coast of South Carolina

more than 150 years ago,

and they're finding

more than just gold.

Joining us now, Mark Gordon,

the president

of Odyssey Marine Exploration,

the company leading

the recovery.

Mark, it's great to have you

back on the program

It was horrible.

about this ship

and what happened to it.

Finding out

about Odyssey Marine

going back to the site.

Our team is out there

actually actively recovering

valuable items as we speak.

Something that Tom had

worked on since probably 1972,

and here was somebody

that had come in

and just taken his life's work

away from him.

the best technology

to do it.

After he's put

his heart and soul and his mind

and every part of his being

into this.

45 gold bars,

47 pieces of gold jewelry

But one thing about Tom

is he doesn't get furious.

He'll just be silent.

While the gold

gets the headlines,

we're also doing

some amazing science

It's unnerving

is what it is.

I felt bad for Tommy

in a lot of different ways.

An individual who had invested

his life in building this entity

and to know that all that

was for naught.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able

to communicate with Tommy

at that time

because he was gone.

jewelry,

2,000 gold coins

and more than 11,000

silver coins

All they did was go down

and pick up what he left there.

And I think they sold

the treasure for $30 million.

It was only

as a result of the receiver

that the investors finally got

some of their money back.

We only got $2 million.

The partners

only got $2 million.

Are you kidding me?

We're running all these

different, like, media things

and the billboards

and everything,

but it just wasn't working.

And so we had to keep

dialing it up.

What you have to do

is you have to follow

where the investigation

takes you.

So, in this particular case,

at Gracewood,

we had found all these

different medications,

they were all being issued

by particular medical clinics

and things like that.

And so we had sent a lead to one

of the Florida offices to say,

"I need you to help me out

with this investigation."

And I sent it to the right guy.

I had a theory that because they

had so much money and they had

already rented a mansion,

Vero Beach, that they were

on Palm Beach Island.

Palm Beach Island is

a very exclusive community,

and he could just stay hidden

beneath the shadows.

I was prepared to do,

what we would say,

"old school policing."

So, I just said, let me go

to every single pharmacy

in the West Palm Beach area

and see if perhaps

I could come across somebody

who had recognized him.

I went to the two pharmacies

that I found there,

but nothing came about.

The third try was the pharmacy

right there

in downtown West Palm,

and as soon as I showed

Alison's photo,

the clerk's eyes lit up.

"Yes, we recognize her.

It's the female

that wears the large hats."

The clerk informs me

that Alison had been attending

a pain clinic in Boca Raton,

which is approximately

25, 30 miles away.

I knew we had her.

We knew

that Alison frequented

the pain clinic monthly.

So, I just waited and waited.

One day, I received a phone call

from the manager

of the pain clinic.

She notified me that Alison

had actually called

to schedule an appointment

to come in.

She was going to be at

the pain clinic within an hour.

So, I begin to call all

of our task force officers,

and we raced down there

as fast as we could.

I start getting the calls

sometime in the afternoon

and saying, "It's happening."

You know, you're almost like

an expectant father,

you start pacing.

This could be

the beginning of the end.

She comes out

of the clinic, and she walks.

She walks towards

the Tri-Rail station,

and then we lose her.

And half of us flip out,

and we're on the radio saying,

"How is it possible

that we lost her?"

And I telephoned

the task force officer,

and he goes, "Listen, I don't

know if this is anything,

but I saw a taxi leave

the Tri-Rail station.

Do you want us to follow it?"

And I said, "We don't have

anything else to go on,

so yeah, follow it."

And at some point, they tell us

that, hey, the taxi

just stopped at a Hilton.

We could see that a female

stepped out of the taxi,

but we still don't know

if it's Alison.

My stress level is

at its greatest at this point.

So, the guys go around

to the front of the hotel,

and they show

pictures of Alison.

"No, I don't

recognize this person."

And all of our heads

just went down.

And then I'm like, well,

we haven't showed them

a picture of Tommy.

"Yeah, he's staying here

at this hotel."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, they've

been staying here for 22 months.

Yeah, she comes and goes

all the time,

but we don't see him

as much anymore."

Wow, we don't know

that if he's there

at this exact moment.

So, we go up to the door

and we knock.

Alison, open the door, or we're

gonna break the latch off.

This is the US Marshals,

police, open the door now.

And as soon as the door opens,

we see it's a suite.

And then as we could look

into the back bedroom,

in a white undershirt

and white underwear,

Tommy Thompson, just shaking.

And the first thought that

comes, "Oh, my god, we got him."

A good way to describe it

is living in a bubble

and having somebody come

and burst through the bubble.

It was very surreal.

For somebody that's never been

in handcuffs,

it was a unique experience

to become a criminal.

Alison turns to me

and she goes,

"You must be

so proud of yourself."

And I looked at my

I kind of was like,

"I am kind of proud of myself."

This took months to work on,

and we finally got you.

US Marshals

arrested Tommy Thompson

and his girlfriend,

Alison Antekeier,

in their room

at this Hilton Hotel

in Boca Raton, Florida.

Thompson disappeared

two years ago.

Both are expected to be

extradited to Columbus

to face charges.

When I saw

photos of Tommy

and knowing that he had gone

from being at the top

of the world

to this place

where he's put in jail,

um, it's quite sad.

I was just happy

he was found.

Let's move forward.

I was glad that he was

safe and alive, you know,

there was some concern

about whether he had passed away

or what had happened to him.

Tommy called here

right away.

I felt relieved.

But of course now

things were serious.

He'd been so sick,

now he's in jail.

Yeah, that was,

that was hard.

You think things

can't get worse, but they did.

Obviously the first thing

they're looking for

is their 500 gold

restrike coins.

And they start

a sweep of the room.

They do find any number

of different things there,

like large amounts of cash.

$425,000.

He was found

with all these burner phones

and voice changers.

The kinds of tools that you

would have if you are hiding.

Another red flag.

Not a good thing.

But everyone wants to know

where these coins are.

But no,

they weren't there.

It would have been nice

if they would have been,

but life's not like television.

Tommy's brought

back to Columbus

where he doesn't plead guilty

to theft of the coins.

He pleads guilty

to criminal contempt of court

for failing to appear

back in 2012,

and for that, he's sentenced

to two years in prison,

and he's to pay a fine,

and the judge says to him,

"Tommy, you're gonna stay

in jail

until you tell the court

where the coins are."

He also imposes a $1,000 fine

per day every day

that he is not talking.

Well, every three months there's

this little show that comes on,

and the show is the Tommy Show.

What happens is

the judge takes the bench.

Tommy comes out and he sits down

and the judge asks,

"Tommy, where's the gold?"

And Tommy basically says,

"I'm not telling you."

Show's over,

and he goes back to jail.

Lot of people think

after a few weeks of jail,

Tommy'll come clean.

Tommy doesn't come clean.

Months go by,

he's hauled back to court.

"Tommy, you gonna

tell the court?"

"No."

Back to prison.

Years go by

and people are thinking,

"Oh, come on,

he's gonna come clean."

Tommy doesn't come clean.

He was guilty of contempt

of court, and that's it.

That's all he's ever

been charged with.

The mystery is why is Tommy

stonewalling everybody

to this degree

and to his own detriment?

It just, it's very difficult

to comprehend.

As the judge said, he

had a get-out-of-jail-free card

at any time.

Why would you want to spend

any more time in jail

than you have to?

I didn't refuse to answer.

I didn't know the answer.

I put these coins

in an offshore trust in Belize.

I don't know

the specific location.

The trustee can put them

wherever he wants.

I can't access these coins.

When you're in a litigation,

they will not send you anything.

I don't believe any of it.

We see he had lawyers

prepare these documents.

I think that's part

of his incredible brilliance.

What a great smokescreen.

Jury selection started today

in a civil lawsuit

against Tommy Thompson.

So now

the Wolfes' lawsuit

has dragged on for so long

that the judge rightly decides

for the investors,

we need to have a trial,

he needs to come to court

and be judged by a jury.

Thompson has been

described over the years

as a brilliant researcher

and a treasure hunter

but also a thief and conman.

Tommy Thompson

has steadfastly refused

to say what he did

with some 500 gold coins

worth millions of dollars.

It's not clear whether investors

will get any real answers,

but their lawsuit

is finally coming to trial.

Tommy was rolled in,

physically shackled

to a wheelchair.

He had a white beard

and long hair.

He was very emaciated.

He looked like he was ill.

He saw me and recognized me,

and I recognized him,

and he actually had

a little smile.

Tommy,

where are the coins?

"Can't help you."

So, I'm called

to testify in the trial.

I felt like a deer

in the headlights.

Tommy's testimony

and Alison's testimony

is that the gold coins

were given to a stranger

to put in the offshore trust

Tommy said he formed in 2010.

There was a place

in Fort Lauderdale,

it was a private vault.

And Tom decided he wanted

to move the coins there,

which I did.

Two months later

and this is her testimony

Tommy tells her

to take out the coins,

carry these 150 pounds of coins

in four suitcases

and hand 'em over

to a complete stranger.

He made arrangements

for somebody

I don't know if it was

somebody from the trust

or somebody else

to meet me at the vault

and pick up the coins.

What's the stranger look like?

"I don't know."

Was he bigger

or smaller than me?

"I don't know."

Can you tell us any features?

"I don't know."

Tommy testified

almost identically.

He thought maybe the person

might have a feather in his hat.

When you're shipping gold,

you can either buy a lot of g*ns

and expensive trucks

or you can be secret about it.

This is not unusual.

That's the way it's done.

We don't know

if it's in the trust,

we have no idea

if it's anywhere.

You know, for all we know, it's

in a basement in Columbus, Ohio.

Members of a jury

deciding today

between a treasure hunter

who found millions

of dollars in gold

and his investors who are

still seeking restitution.

They deliberated, I think,

for less than two hours.

That's really short.

And then they came back

with a verdict.

After years of waiting,

investors who have sued

Tommy Thompson

to release millions of dollars

in gold finally have an answer.

When they said,

"We find for the plaintiff"

I started to relax,

and they kept saying,

"We find for the plaintiff."

The jury awarded

$19.4 million

to the people who invested

in Tommy Thompson's gold hunt.

Along with the $2 million

from the second recovery,

that pretty much added up

to the original investment.

I was disappointed.

That only pays back

the investors.

That's it. No profit.

Now as for Tommy Thompson,

well, it's back to jail

where he's been

for nearly four years now.

He was charged

with contempt of court

because he would not give up

those 500 gold coins.

I'm afraid that Tommy

is gonna die in jail.

He's so broken.

But talking to him,

talking to him

you would never know it

'cause he's

he's so optimistic.

He is an inspiration.

It's not fair

what's happened to him.

We should be honoring him.

Alright, stand by, land,

I think we can

I think

it's important to reclaim

what Tommy's

original vision was.

Dedicating his life

to open up the deep ocean

field of exploration

for the benefit of mankind.

I think

that Tommy's discovery

of the SS Central America

and the recovery of the gold,

the way he did it,

is one of the most remarkable

engineering achievements

of the 20th century.

Oh, my god, woo!

And I think Tommy

has been denied

his place in history.

I truly believe

that Tommy

is about as straight

as a dog's hind leg.

I guess you could say

greed might drive people

to change their ideals

and philosophies.

I don't think that Tommy

was driven by greed

when we first met,

but then I also don't know

how and why he changed.

This was a large

investment for our family.

The outcome did matter.

My dad, I'm gonna say

he probably never got over it.

I do feel a little angry,

especially now

that he's passed away.

I think Tommy, he is a thief.

This is a story

of good and evil.

The good is Tommy Thompson and

the people that supported him,

the evil are the people

that tore him down,

put him in jail and

pretty much ended his life.

The curse of gold is

shown by what it does to people.

Tommy Thompson is perhaps

the best example of that.

He used to be a hero,

a brilliant, clear-eyed person.

And now he's just shriveling

in a prison.

That's the curse of gold.

Tommy Thompson

cared not one whit

about treasure, about gold.

If he had not been sued

relentlessly for about 30 years,

I think that he would right now

be leading the world

in deep ocean exploration.

They said

it couldn't be done.

They said even

if we got down there,

we wouldn't be able to find it.

We turned impossibilities

into realities.