Hello Gentlemen,

The Port Nicholson platinum, gold & diamonds story has now been proven to have been a hoax, and the feds are investigation for likely criminal indictments for investor fraud.

Please refer to: "Treasure Hunter Admits There's No Treasure" WCSH channel 6 news, Portland, Maine with Bill Green on December 4, 2014; "Treasure Hunter Says Documents Were Forgeries" Cape Cod Times by Doug Fraser, December 4, 2014.

Greg Brooks, the self-proclaimed shipwreck treasure salvage expert (or con-man?) from Maine who most profited from this hoax, now claims in federal court that his "researcher" Ed Michaud of Framingham Massachusetts, just recently admitted to having forged the alleged "Bullion" documents as well as making up his supposed source, an alleged former Naval Intelligence officer.

You may remember Michaud, a past poster on this forum, the guy who claimed to have found what he called a Type XIB (none were ever built nor launched), and so-called "Hitler's Escape Sub" in just 40 feet of water off Chatham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1993. Oh...and did I mention it was supposedly carrying a half billion dollars in gold bullion, according to Michaud?

These guys have been involved in a dozen similar investment deals (or scams?) over the past two decades, but have never recovered any treasure. Brooks, however, has gotten rich, and collected millions of dollars, not from treasure salvage, but from bilked investors. Brooks, like Michaud, claimed to have found the wreck on the U-233 in Casco Bay in 1996. Actually, however, the U-233 had been depth-charged, shelled, rammed and sunk by U.S. Navy warships near Sable Island approximately 600 miles Northeast of Casco Bay, with the capture of half her crew.

Maybe these nice fellows, who take legitimate history so seriously, will do a long stint in federal prison, where they can bone-up on their research skills.
As a lawyer, everyone is innocent until proven guilty by a jury of their peers. Hopefully, the Maine U.S. Attorney will take a close look at this most recent case, to bring some justice or restitution for the many investment victims.

At the very least, this crew should be black-listed from ever soliciting investor moneys on such ridiculous treasure tales in the future.

Regards.

Paul Lawton