Lawyer for fugitive gold salvager lied about inventories, judge says

A federal judge has ruled that the attorney for a shipwreck salvager repeatedly lied to the court about documents detailing how much gold had been recovered from a site off the coast of South Carolina.

U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley concluded last week that Richard Robol “committed a fraud upon the court” by denying that his client possessed inventories of the more than $40 million in gold coins and bars brought up from the SS Central America shipwreck more than two decades ago.

Robol was the longtime attorney for companies operated by Tommy Thompson, who is now a federal fugitive. Investors in Thompson’s Recovery Limited and Columbus Exploration companies had tried for seven years to obtain the inventories.

They wanted to determine how much of the recovered gold was sold to California Gold Marketing in 2000 and whether any had been missing.

“If lawyers are allowed to misrepresent facts without any consequences, the entire system does not work.” — Steve Tigges

Robol said in numerous court proceedings that California Gold possessed the only inventory.

A court-appointed receiver who took over Thompson’s companies last summer found more than 20 inventories of the gold in file cabinets taken from properties owned by Robol. Some were the original inventories made when the gold was removed from the shipwreck from 1988 to 1991.

The Dispatch Printing Company, an investor in Thompson’s expedition, filed motions for sanctions against Robol in October as part of a larger federal lawsuit regarding the shipwreck’s proceeds.

Last Friday, Marbley ordered Robol to pay the costs incurred by Dispatch Printing to find the missing inventories and for filing sanctions against Robol.

Dispatch Printing, which publishes The Dispatch and Dispatch.com, hasn’t determined the amount yet. The company has spent $1.7 million in a broader lawsuit against Thompson, according to court documents. That lawsuit, which includes other plaintiffs, was for breach of fiduciary duty and an accounting of the shipwreck salvage.

Steve Tigges, an attorney for Dispatch Printing, said that withholding the inventories and “misrepresenting their existence to the court” kept the court-ordered accounting of the gold and its proceeds hidden for years.

“It is very important to vindicate the integrity and dignity of the court,” Tigges said. “If lawyers are allowed to misrepresent facts without any consequences, the entire system does not work.”

Christopher T. O’Shaughnessy, Robol’s attorney, said his client was surprised by, and disappointed with, the court’s decision.

“Mr. Robol will be considering all options available to him after the court issues a final order” with the amount of the fine, O’Shaughnessy said. He “will not comment further on pending litigation.”

Dispatch Printing also had filed motions for sanctions against Thompson — a fugitive for more than a year — and two of Thompson’s former board members, Gilman Kirk and Michael Ford, in October.

Kirk settled out of court, agreeing to pay $700,000 to Dispatch Printing. The action against Ford was dropped as part of Kirk’s settlement.

The Central America sank in 1857 with tons of gold on board. Thompson and his crew located the shipwreck in the late 1980s after investors, mostly from central Ohio, provided him with $22 million for the expedition. The investors never were repaid, and the recovery effort has been mired in legal proceedings for more than two decades.

A company hired by the court-appointed receiver began new salvage efforts at the shipwreck last month.