One hundred sixty-one investors who funded the search by treasure hunter Tommy Thompson will soon find out if they would ever recover the $12.7 million they invested in Thompson's search for gold.

Thompson was arrested on Tuesday at the Hilton hotel in West Boca Raton after hiding for more than two years until the US Marshals Service tracked him in Palm Beach County where he live on a cash-only basis, reports the Telegraph.

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Thompson and a female companion, Alison Anteiker, had lived in a suite at the hotel for two years before the law caught them, said Brian Babtist, senior inspector at the US Marshals Service.

He became reclusive in 2006 since he moved to Vero Beach, Florida, but after an arrest warrant was issued in 2012 for not showing up in court in a civil case over the location of the proceeds of the sale of the gold, Thompson disappeared. His Florida mansion yielded prepaid disposable mobile phones and bank wraps for $10,000 and a bank statement for $1 million under the name of Harvey Thompson, which was his college nickname.

In 1988, Thomson found the sunken vessel SS Central America, which contained thousands of gold bullion and coins, and used sonar and robotic technology to retrieve the gold. He sold most of the yellow metal for $50 million to a gold marketing group in 2000 but never paid back his investors.

The vessel sank in September 1857 when hurricane hit it while sailing near the South Carolina coast with 425 people and California gold aboard.

But Gil Kirk, a former director of one of Thompson's companies, said in 2014 that the $50 million were all used to pay legal fees and bank loans.

After a Florida hearing on Thursday, Thompson and Anteiker would be extradited to Ohio, said Babtist, where he is expected to account to an Ohio judge the proceeds of the sale as well as explain his actions.

TagsTommy Thompson, fugitive treasure hunter, Florida, ship of gold, SS Central America