MORE ON THE SS CENTRAL AMERICA LITIGATION

I read last week’s section about the Central America litigation with great interest. The background provided for Milt Butterworth, Jr., left out an important fact - he is Tommy Thompson’s brother-in-law, being married to Tommy’s elder sister Sandee/Sandra Elaine Butterworth, née Thompson. That relationship is mentioned in the Forbes’ 2006 article, Ship of Fools.

Another good article, which I don't think has been linked yet in The E Sylum, is a June 2009 reprint of a June 1999 article in Columbus Monthly, Ship of Debt. Among the new things I learned was that Thompson had been married, and had three kids. Thompson’s wife and family aren’t mentioned at all in Gary Kinder’s Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea.

The latest twist in the litigation sounds a lot like an odd bankruptcy case that was brought in Delaware last year, in an apparent attempt to delay the receivership action in Ohio. Both Lorz and Robol, who were involved in the bankruptcy case, are involved in this one as well.

Here’s a link to the motion to dismiss in the bankruptcy case. It’s quite interesting on the procedural posture. Astonishingly, the bankruptcy petition was signed by one Jennifer Jones, who then turns out to be a made up person:

To read the complete article, see: Chapter 11 Case No. 13-10347 (PJW) (www.documentcloud.org/documents/624212-dismissal.html)

Another interesting tidbit is provided by Williamson v. Recovery Ltd Partnership, 542 F.3d 43 (2d Cir. 2008), which has this remarkable statement: “Defendants, on the other hand, argue that, while gold and valuables were certainly found on the ship, the recovery efforts did not actually provide a return to the initial investors, much less a profit, and that Defendants therefore have not violated their contract with Plaintiffs.” In other words, the entire Central America venture - with all that gold - ended up losing money.

Last month, with the approval of an Ohio judge, deep-sea divers with Tampa, Fla.-based Odyssey Marine Exploration returned to the shipwreck and began recovering gold under a contract with the court-appointed receiver over Thompson’s former company, Recovery Limited Partnership.

Columbus-America and its current president, Milt Butterworth, are now fighting to gain control over any recently recovered gold, stop the expedition and conduct any future trips to recover the gold.

Late last week, federal Judge Rebecca Beach Smith declined to rule which company has the rights to the sunken ship but did find that Odyssey Marine “is qualified to perform the ongoing salvage operation,” ordering that it can continue doing so.

It’s unclear when she’ll issue a ruling about who has rights to the sunken treasure.

To read the complete Forbes article, see: Ship Of Fools (www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0619/158.html)

To read the complete Columbus Monthly article, see: Ship of debt (www.columbusmonthly.com/content/stories/2009/06/ship-of-debt.html)

To read the complete Wall Street Journal bankruptcy article, see: Investors Want to Sink Columbus Exploration Bankruptcy (blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2013/03/18/investors-want
-to-sink-columbus-exploration-bankruptcy/)

To read the complete Williamson v. Recovery appeal, see: Williamson v. Recovery Ltd. Partnership, 542 F. 3d 43 - Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit 2008 (scholar.google.com/scholar_case?
case=538076350304690631&hl=en
&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr)

To read the Columbus Dispatch article, see: Fugitive’s company wants control of treasure site (www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/05/18/fugitives-company-wants-control-of-treasure-site.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: COLUMBUS-AMERICA GROUP SUES ODYSSEY (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n21a10.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web