Antiques Roadshow episode sees Florida grandparents thrown in jail after unwittingly harboring stolen gold bars from cursed 18th Century shipwreck By Miles Dilworth, Senior Reporter For Dailymail.Com Published: 16:37 BST, 27 July 2024 | Updated: 16:37 BST, 27 July 2024 e-mail View comments When an old French sailor pal of Philip and Gay Courter popped open a briefcase full of gold at their Florida home in 1986, their jaws dropped to the floor. But their flamboyant friend was always full of surprises - and the elderly couple could never have suspected the extraordinary tale that lay behind the loot.
On June 29, 2022, the Courters were arrested on European warrants in connection with money laundering, organized crime , and the trafficking of cultural goods stolen from an 18th century shipwreck. Now, for the first time, best-selling author Gay, 79, and her husband, 81, have spoken at length of their ordeal, telling The New Yorker how their unwitting part in the journey of the 'cursed' gold had destroyed their lives. And it is a story that may never have come to light if it wasn't for a 1999 episode of Antiques Roadshow .
Gay and Philip Courter were arrested in England in 2022 after unwittingly harboring gold bars stolen from an 18th century French shipwreck. The charges were dropped The bars were plundered by French divers during the 1970s, before an extraordinary investigation saw some end up back in the hands of U.S.
Homeland Security It is thought around 100 gold bars were lo.