• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Forrest Fenn's Treasure

It is curious now that he's dead that the one who found it hasn't come forward to show and tell. They would become a minor celeb.
I don't think there was any kind of non disclosure agreement required once one found the loot.
Very odd....unless the finder is a loner type who doesn't want notoriety.
 
dr wu said:
It is curious now that he's dead that the one who found it hasn't come forward to show and tell. They would become a minor celeb.
I don't think there was any kind of non disclosure agreement required once one found the loot.
Very odd....unless the finder is a loner type who doesn't want notoriety.
Click to expand...

There's more to it than celebrity. As this June 2020 article in Outside magazine explains, if Fenn's claim the treasure was found is true the finder probably faces a huge tax liability and may not even have a legal right to keep the treasure at all.
Finding Forrest Fenn's Treasure Was Just the Start

The anonymous finder now has a million-dollar headache ...

In this case, the problem with telling everyone about the location of Fenn’s treasure is that there’s a good chance it doesn’t legally belong to the person who found it. It varies by state, but in general, treasure found on private property belongs to the land owner, not the finder. Pretty much the only way to stay out of court is to negotiate the split of any findings ahead of time.

On federal land, like national parks and national forests, treasure hunters need permits to keep anything they find, and even then you’re going to need lawyers, because Fenn’s treasure doesn’t fit into any category for which the federal government has a neat and tidy legal definition. It wasn’t “lost,” “misplaced” or “abandoned.” At ten years old, it’s not really from antiquity. It may not even fit the legal definition of a treasure.

“The question here is whether it’s even a treasure trove,” said Ben Costello, an attorney and board member of the 1715 Fleet Society, which researches and documents the recovery of shipwrecks. “I don’t think it is, because the owner is known.”

Property where the owner is known is supposed to go back to that original owner. We don’t have laws for gold and jewels that the owner doesn’t want back. It’s just not a situation that comes up. ...

Assuming someone does have a legal claim to their find, the second hurdle is the tax situation, and it is daunting.

“I saw the announcement that someone found Fenn’s million-dollar treasure and I thought ‘Do they know they’re about to pay $450,000 or so in income taxes?” says Larry Brant, a tax attorney in Portland, Oregon.

No one is sure just how much the contents of Fenn’s chest is worth, but Brant says the IRS views treasure just like any other income. The moment you find it, you owe taxes on it for that year, regardless of whether you auction it off, give it to someone, or keep it in your living room as a conversation piece.

Then there’s the matter of state and local taxes. Just like the winner of a state lottery who has to pay taxes in that state, or an NBA player who has to file income taxes everywhere they play, treasure finders have to pay taxes wherever they find treasure. So if it was in New Mexico, that’s an extra 4.9 percent off the top. Wyoming, however, takes nothing. Location matters. ...
Click to expand...

FULL STORY: https://www.outsideonline.com/2414537/forrest-fenn-treasure-found-what-happens-next
 
EnolaGaia said:
There's more to it than celebrity. As this June 2020 article in Outside magazine explains, if Fenn's claim the treasure was found is true the finder probably faces a huge tax liability and may not even have a legal right to keep the treasure at all.


FULL STORY: https://www.outsideonline.com/2414537/forrest-fenn-treasure-found-what-happens-next
Click to expand...
The tax issue is a fair point and one wonders if Fenn thought about this or just figured it was the problem of the one who found it.
;)
 
dr wu said:
The tax issue is a fair point and one wonders if Fenn thought about this or just figured it was the problem of the one who found it.
;)
Click to expand...

The June news stories about the treasure's alleged discovery only mentioned that Fenn claimed he'd always allowed any finder to choose the degree of publicity / privacy that would surround a successful outcome. I don't recall any source mentioning possible tax and / or legal ramifications.

Beyond that ... If any of the treasure's contents were determined to have been illegally obtained it's conceivable Fenn's estate could be held liable for seizures, fines and / or restitution.
 
Reading the article from the Guardian it sounds a bit suspicious that after someone emailed Fenn accusing him of it being a hoax, that he then announced that the treasure had been found, but that the person in question didn't want any publicity at all.
 
A person alleging to be "The Finder" (the person who finally discovered Fenn's treasure) has written a sanitized account of his long quest and his admiration for Fenn.
A Remembrance of Forrest Fenn
The Finder
Sep 23

I am the person who found Forrest’s famed treasure. The moment it happened was not the triumphant Hollywood ending some surely envisioned; it just felt like I had just survived something and was fortunate to come out the other end. For so long, I thought I might be haunted for the rest of my days by knowing where the treasure was but being unable to find it. Would I still be out there in that section of forest 50 years from now looking for it? When I finally found it, the primary emotion was not joy but rather the most profound feeling of relief in my entire life.

I figured out the location where he wished to die (and thus, where his treasure was) back in 2018, but it took me many months to figure out the exact spot. This treasure hunt was the most frustrating experience of my life. There were a few times when I, exhausted, covered in scratches and bites and sweat and pine pitch, and nearing the end of my day’s water supply, sat down on a downed tree and just cried alone in the woods in sheer frustration.

I spent about 25 full days of failure looking for the treasure at that location before getting it. ...
Click to expand...

FULL STORY: https://medium.com/@thefinder/a-remembrance-of-forrest-fenn-1be2a8646ff2
 
The person who found Fenn's treasure has been flushed out into public view - against his wishes, by a lawsuit. He's uncomfortable with this loss of privacy, and he's not inclined to discuss where the treasure was hidden and how he found it.
The man who found Forrest Fenn's treasure wanted to be anonymous. A lawsuit compelled him to go public

The treasure hunter who solved Forrest Fenn's famed treasure hunt in the Rocky Mountains has come forward -- though if he'd had his way, he would've stayed anonymous.

Jack Stuef, a 32-year-old medical student from Michigan, revealed that he found Fenn's treasure chest -- a claim Fenn's family independently verified with Outside magazine, which interviewed Stuef. He disclosed his identity because a recent lawsuit would make his name public, he said.

He's not willing, though, to part with the treasure's secrets and the clues that led him to it. ...

Stuef spent two years searching for Fenn's treasure, which included gold, jewelry and other artifacts believed to total over $1 million. He finally found it in the Wyoming wilderness in June. ...

Stuef said he was worried about the safety of his family. "For the past six months, I have remained anonymous, not because I have anything to hide, but because Forrest and his family endured stalkers, death threats, home invasions, frivolous lawsuits, and a potential kidnapping -- all at the hands of people with delusions related to his treasure," Stuef wrote in a Medium post. "I don't want those things to happen to me and my family." ...

Shortly before Fenn's death in September, a woman filed a suit and said whoever found the treasure had done so by hacking her texts and emails, Stuef told Outside magazine. Since Fenn has since died, his subpoena can be transferred to his heirs, who were formerly the only people who knew Stuef had found the treasure.

Stuef denied the charges to Outside magazine.

Since finding the treasure, Stuef said in his Medium post that he moved to a "more secure building with guards and multiple levels of security" to protect himself. He doesn't have the treasure, either -- it's in a vault in New Mexico, where it will remain until he sells it.

Stuef said he'll never reveal the location where he found the chest to preserve the wildlife there and prevent other explorers from following his trail, which could be dangerous. ...
Click to expand...

FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/forrest-fenn-treasure-found-identity-revealed-trnd/index.html
 
I bet there will still be doubters saying he's made it up, though he has a point about the obsessives' potential to make his life a misery.
 
Grandson of Forrest Fenn confirms identity of student who found treasure.

Medical student Jonathan ‘Jack’ Stuef, 32, located trove stashed in wilds of Wyoming that inspired countless treasure hunters.

A grandson of Forrest Fenn has confirmed that a medical school student from Michigan found the million-dollar treasure chest that the retired art and antiquities dealer stashed in the wilds of Wyoming over a decade ago.

Jonathan “Jack” Stuef, 32, found the treasure in June, Fenn’s grandson Shiloh Forrest Old posted on Monday on a website dedicated to the treasure.

“We wish Jack the best of luck, and we hope that the searching community will treat him with the respect that he deserves,” Old wrote.

Fenn, who was also a decorated US air force fighter pilot during the Vietnam war, left clues to finding the treasure in a poem in a memoir entitled The Thrill of the Chase.

Fenn at the time said he hid the chest filled with coins, gold nuggets and other valuables estimated in value at $1m to $3m in the Rocky Mountains north of Santa Fe in either Colorado, Montana, New Mexico or Wyoming.
Click to expand...
(c) The Guardian.'20
 
The treasure's been found, but legal fallout caused by seekers' excesses continues ...
Utah man pleads guilty in Yellowstone dig seeking treasure

A Utah man has pleaded guilty after authorities said he was caught digging in a Yellowstone National Park cemetery in search of hidden treasure.

Rodrick Dow Craythorn, 52, of Syracuse, Utah, entered the plea Monday in U.S. District Court in Casper to illegally excavating or trafficking in archaeological resources and to damaging federal property.

He could face up to 12 years in prison and $270,000 in fines when sentenced ...

Craythorn was searching for a treasure chest containing coins, gold and other valuables left in the backcountry a decade ago by Santa Fe, New Mexico, art and antiquities dealer Forrest Fenn, who published a book with a poem containing clues to where the treasure could be found. ...

Craythorn caused more than $1,000 in damage by digging in the Fort Yellowstone Cemetery between Oct. 1, 2019, and May 24, 2020, prosecutors alleged. ...

“The hunt for the Forrest Fenn treasure was often viewed as a harmless diversion, but in this case it led to substantial damage to important public resources,” Wyoming U.S. Attorney Mark Klaassen said Tuesday. ...
Click to expand...

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/utah-man-treasure-hunting-yellowstone-698cd755ad6e396d6bc1c0ed1da00c33
 
Like in Masquerade, (Something that cannot happen again, sadly) The treasure is not buried on a protected site.
 
The treasure may not exist at all! Unlike Masquerade (didn't that have a dodgy conclusion too?).
 
I dont know. It just seemed a fun and enjoyable project, that is all.
 
Kondoru said:
I dont know. It just seemed a fun and enjoyable project, that is all.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to imply someone died thanks to Masquerade, I meant the finder was related to the writer somehow. I think we have a thread on it.
 
EnolaGaia said:
The treasure's been found, but legal fallout caused by seekers' excesses continues ...
Click to expand...
There's been more legal fallout, but now in the form of lawsuits against Fenn's estate, claiming he retrieved and kept the treasure once it had become apparent one or another seeker had identified the real location.
Lawsuit: Man who sparked treasure hunt retrieved own loot

A French treasure hunter has sued the estate of a Santa Fe, New Mexico, antiquities dealer who sparked a yearslong search across the American West by hiding a chest filled with gold, coins and other valuables.

Bruno Raphoz is seeking $10 million in a complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court in New Mexico. He claims the late Forrest Fenn deprived him of the riches by moving the treasure chest after he solved a riddle that would lead him to the loot.

The lawsuit comes a year after another man found the treasure in Wyoming, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

“It appeared suspicious to everyone,” Raphoz said in the lawsuit. “Our assumption is that (Forrest) Fenn went to retrieve the chest himself, declared it found publicly and kept the content for himself.” ...

Raphoz’s lawsuit is just the latest legal claim to be spurred by the treasure hunt. A number of people have sued, alleging Fenn betrayed them or gave misleading clues. ...

Raphoz said he used the clues to determine Fenn’s treasure was in southwestern Colorado. He informed Fenn he solved the puzzle and was on his way to retrieve the chest. However, his plans were derailed by the coronavirus pandemic, and Fenn announced a short time later that the treasure had been found.

Fenn died in September at age 90 without saying who found the chest or specifically where.

Fenn's grandson confirmed in December that Jonathan “Jack” Stuef, a 32-year-old medical student from Michigan, discovered it. Fenn said before his death that the treasure was in Wyoming, but neither Stuef nor Fenn’s relatives have specified where.
Click to expand...
FULL STORY: https://news.yahoo.com/lawsuit-man-sparked-treasure-hunt-155608201.html
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top