Jun 04 2008
Treasure Hunters Face Jail Time
Two men are facing possible jail time over an unregistered scheme to solicite funds to seek and recover shipwrecked treasure. Australian investors have put up more than $600,000.00 toward a scheme entitled “The Hatcher Unit Trust.” The Hatcher Unit Trust (HUT) claimed that 15% of all the gold found by man in the last 6,000 years is lying at the bottom of the ocean.”
They also claimed “it has been calculated that if all the lost treasure and items of value could be recovered from the ocean and its wealth evenly distributed, every man, woman and child on earth could live comfortably for the rest of their lives.”
Now, we’re not wealthy enough to put up any money for this kind of treasure hunting (and if we were, we’d probably do it ourselves!), but that rhetoric seems full of holes. Unfortunately the scheme successfully raised millions of dollars internationally, the majority of the funds came from Australia.
To date, investors have not received any returns from their investment.
But exactly HOW is this illegal? Well, the men did not register the investment scheme with the Australian Securities and Investment Scheme and documents tendered to court indicated the scheme would not have been eligible for registration. So it looks like jail time for these “treasure hunters” - and no money back for the innocent investors.
Beware of schemes folks - if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. And the possibility of every person on this planet living comfortably for the rest of their lives, while something to hope for, does seem a little far-fetched.
- Shaun
What are your latest treasure hunt adventures? Are you benefiting from the great weather we’ve been having? Where do you hunt and what are you seeking this summer?
Hi Rob,
Sorry it took me so long to get to your comment. Adam and I have private property outside of St. Cloud, FL where we hunt. There’s a small pond on the property we’re hoping to hunt with a water machine. So far we’ve cleaned the pasture of nails, found a few coins from about the time my family purchased the land in the 40’s. Got a whole bunch of tractor parts, enough to piece together one here soon!