A team of Florida divers have found 350 gold coins lost by a Spanish fleet 300 years ago.
Found on July 30, the coins are estimated to be worth $4.5 million.
In other news, some European treasure hunters searching for a legendary Nazi “ghost train” have claimed to have found it. If true they will have the right to only 10% of what ever is recovered.
Oooh pretty
Shortly after the announcement the most ruthless modern day pirates, the Fed gov via their heartless enforcement arm the IRS, confiscated 310 of the 350 gold pieces. An act known in mafia circles as payment of protection money.
300 years on the ocean floor and they look just the same as the day they went in the water.
They should send the revenuers those gold-foil covered chocolate coins. Personally, they should be able to keep everything they find, tax free. They found it without any gov’t providing any capital outlay.
Do you know what it’s called when you provide zero capital for a venture and yet demand a cut? A felony. Arrest everyone at the IRS.
Of course my little story about this event was a bit of a joke. But just barely a joke. Officially the State of Fla is claiming 20%.
Here is an earlier case where the courts ruled that Odyssey Marine Exploration had to return $500M in treasure found in international waters to Spain. Spain was supported by the US Gov.
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/02/02/arggg-u-s-court-orders-the-return-of-500-million-dollars-of-gold-coins-to-spain/ .
“An appellate court has upheld a lower court decision that ordered American treasure-hunter Odyssey Marine Exploration to return to Spain some 594,000 gold and silver coin valued at roughly $500 million recovered on the ocean floor from a sunken Spanish Galleon. The United States government supported the Spanish in the claim and the coins are supposed to be returned to Spain within ten days.
Here is how the Court described the case in an earlier ruling: ”
And they never dipped a toe in the water. The mafia no doubt envies the gov system.
“Hi!… I’m here from the government, and I’m here to help… myself… to your gold.
if I were the judge I would have told the Spanish gov’t that if they wanted the gold so bad, they should have put on some scuba geared and looked for it. It lay there how many 100 yrs just waiting to be found? Finders keepers losers weepers still holds true in a sane world.
for readers out there, if you want to read a great book about finding lost treasure at sea, look up Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea one of the best books I have read