Treasure hunter freed from jail after refusing to turn over shipwreck gold

3/15/2026 at 3:28:15 PM

He's an idiot. He pulled off one of the most incredible stunts I've ever seen. Not only does was he able to find and extract the gold over a mile down, which is incredible, he was also able to rally over 100 investors and raise capital. Ironically this is basically how capital markets originated, from shipping ventures not unlike this one.

He should have given the investors their money, taken his performance fee, and not spend up to half of his remaining lifespan (and probably around 3/4 of his remaining health span).

On the other hand, if he has grandkids and he manages to give them say 100mm instead of 20mm, he may feel it was worth it genetically.

by bojangleslover

3/15/2026 at 5:02:05 PM

I am surprised he survived jail.

Inmates would start threatening and exporting him as soon as they learned of this and might even continue after he is out.

by throwa356262

3/16/2026 at 9:27:17 AM

You're American aren't you.

There is a reason I can tell. (Hint: It might be something to do with the prison system).

by GJim

3/15/2026 at 7:26:24 PM

If true, then why couldn't he also buy bodyguards or protection?

by caminante

3/15/2026 at 7:09:39 AM

Spending a decade in jail at age 60+ is a hell of a price to pay for a few millions. I'm tempted to believe he doesn't actually know where the coins are. If that's the case, he just spent 10+ years in a cage because a judge didn't believe him....

by olalonde

3/15/2026 at 10:09:10 AM

According to the article, the lawsuit said the coins were worth up to $400m. That's more than a "few" millions, it's $40m per year spent in jail. I think the bigger issue for him is that it will be very hard to launder all of that without getting caught.

by jbstack

3/15/2026 at 11:04:25 AM

At no point in my life would I choose to spend 10 years in jail for $400m. Only if my current living situation was very poor and this was my only way out of it. I can sort of imagine why one would... but it seems like an awful decision to me.

It seems more plausible to me he actually doesn't have the gold.

by Fargren

3/15/2026 at 11:28:24 AM

I would in a heartbeat. $400,000,000 is never-work-again-in-your-life money. Not just for me, but for my parents and other members of my family. You could put it into bonds at a mere 2% APY (far lower than current interest rates) and get 8 million dollars per year in interest for doing nothing.

At 16 waking hours per day, we're losing at least half of that with work, so it would only take 1 additional decade before I break even in terms of time, not even considering the vastly improved quality of life having millions of dollars of annual passive income nets you. I could even afford dram.

by craftkiller

3/15/2026 at 12:22:18 PM

I might've done it in my 20s. But now that I'm much later in life the time is far more precious than the money.

And I don't think it's a good idea to hand family members never-work money. Their own achievements become meaningless.

by laughing_man

3/15/2026 at 12:30:28 PM

Idk I would rather spend 10 years in jail later in life than in my twenties.

Otherwise I agree with you it’s not a trade off that is worth it at any point in life

by MidnightRider39

3/15/2026 at 1:17:27 PM

I was about to comment that there was no amount of money I would take in return for spending time in prison but then I realized that of course that’s not true. It would be fun to create a survey that would show a visualization of where people tend to fall on the time/money axis for this.

by adriand

3/15/2026 at 4:23:48 PM

It logically should track closely to the person's age and life expectancy and "legit job" earning potential. I would spend my years 20-29 in jail for $400M, wealth that I'd enjoy for the rest of my life, without hesitation. Heck, I'd have been willing to spend my twenties in prison for $40M. That's still life-changing never-have-to-work-again money. 30-39? I'd probably do it for $400M. 40-49? Hmm, now that's getting kind of tough. Maybe I'd do it for $1B. 50-59? I don't think I could physically do it, and given the number of years I had left, I probably wouldn't even be able to enjoy whatever sum we are talking about.

by ryandrake

3/15/2026 at 6:19:41 PM

> I would spend my years 20-29 in jail for $400M

This is kind of why I want to make this survey now because there’s no way I’d spend a decade of my life in prison for any amount of money. I would do six months for $3M. I’d maybe do 12 for $10M. But beyond that…I don’t know, even a year seems like too long to be behind bars.

by adriand

3/15/2026 at 7:49:20 PM

Would a guarantee of a different kind of prison environment change your mind? For example, prison conditions in the Netherlands versus the US? If you were allowed 6+ hours of positive, structured activities a day? Less than if you weren't in prison of course, but as we're talking about 'How much is it worth to you...'

by sunrunner