After exactly 493 days of refusing to reveal the location of 500 gold coins, former treasure hunter Tommy Thompson was given a choice Friday: Give his permission to examine a trust in Belize, or face a third contempt-of-court charge.

There's speculation that the coins, valued at between $2.5 million and $4 million, might be held in the trust in the Central American country. The coins were struck from gold bars recovered from the 1857 SS Central America shipwreck.

Thompson, who turned 65 this month, has been in jail since Dec. 15, 2015 on a civil contempt charge for refusing to reveal the location of the gold to investors who put up at least $12.7 million for the 1988 recovery.

"Mr. Thompson is ordered to sign a power of attorney that gives the government the power to probe the Belizean trust," U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley ruled Friday. That would give Ira Kane, the receiver in the case, the ability to examine whether the trust holds the whereabouts of the gold coins.

"I'm directing you to cooperate with the government," Marbley told Thompson, who wore a Delaware County jail jumpsuit and again appeared in court in a wheelchair. Only by doing that could Thompson "purge himself" of the civil contempt that, technically, has no definite end.

A criminal-contempt charge had not yet been imposed for the time he fled to Florida instead of showing up at a court hearing.

Marbley has presided over status conferences in Thompson's case practically every six months. He's given Thompson time to go over documents and be examined by doctors, and allowed him to fire and hire lawyers.

On Friday, Thompson mentioned there was a fortune at stake and he told Marbley that he was "as interested in speeding up this process as much as you."

Marbley refused Thompson's request to appoint a civil law attorney to help him review records he's already reviewed to jog his memory about the location of the gold. Marbley said his two attorneys, Todd Long and Charles Koenig are well-versed on civil law.

"What stretches the court's credulity is why do you need a civil attorney to explain your own documents," Marbley said. "The court is not going to be complicit in spurious machinations."

The debtor's deposition could take five minutes, the judge said.

"State your name. State your address. Tell me where the gold is."

erinehart@dispatch.com

@esrinehart

Ira Kane receiver