Tommy Thompson, a 73-year-old deep-sea treasure hunter, has been released from prison after a decade-long contempt sentence tied to the 1857 SS Central America shipwreck. Thompson discovered millions in gold from the wreck off South Carolina's coast in 1988, but investors later accused him of withholding proceeds. He was jailed in 2015 for refusing to disclose the location of 500 missing gold coins.

When the SS Central America sank in 1857, it carried 30,000 pounds of gold from San Francisco, worth up to $400 million today. The ship's loss contributed to the financial panic of 1857 and claimed 425 lives. Thompson's investors had contributed $12.7 million to the expedition, expecting returns on their investment. In 2000, Thompson sold much of the recovered treasure to a gold marketing group for about $50 million.

The treasure hunter vanished in 2012 while facing court demands, eventually being found in 2015 living in a Florida hotel under a false name. Though his civil contempt sentence has ended, the mystery of the missing coins remains unsolved, leaving investors still awaiting their share of the historic shipwreck's bounty.