The Spanish government and the American company, which found a treasure in the Atlantic for half a billion dollars, meet in court again

On Monday, the federal Tampa court (Florida) begins the next stage in the consideration of the litigation between the Spanish government and the American company Odyssey Marine Exploration (OME). The lawyers of both parties will present each other arguments in favor of the case that began in 2007, CNN reports.

Recall that in May 2007 , the treasures worth half a billion dollars were discovered by American treasure hunters on a ship that sank in the Middle Ages in the Atlantic Ocean. Spain seeks an unconditional regain for himself all coins, focusing on the fact that the treasures were found on the Spanish warship "Nuestra Senior de Las Mercedes", which sank during the battle in the Atlantic near the coast of this country.

However, OME said that Spain has no reason to declare the rights to discovered treasures, since the ship was not found in the territorial waters of Spain and is not the English ship of Sussex , which crashed in 1694 near Gibraltar.

The company's management also reported that all work was carried out in accordance with applicable laws.

The find of the treasure alerted the authorities of Spain and the UK, as the American company did not provide data on exactly where the treasure was discovered, and which country belonged to the flooded vessel. OME only carefully said that the find under the code name "Black Swan", consisting of 500 thousand silver, hundreds of gold coins, gold products and other works of art, was discovered outside the boundaries of territorial waters of any country and in the area where many ships sank.

At the end of last year, OME appealed to the US Federal Court with a petition to grant her exclusive ownership of possible sea treasures, which she is going to find about 40 miles from the southwestern coast of England. The company substantiated its request by the fact that it probably discovered in this area a sunken shopping ship of the 17th century. In April, permission was obtained.

There was information according to which, a sunken ship with a valuable cargo rests at the bottom near the La-Channel Strait. Odyssey lawyer requested permission to carry out deep -sea search work in this place in the fall of last year. Based on this, it can be assumed that the treasure is located in the hold of a merchant ship, which sank in the XVII century 65 km west of the coast of England.

The Ministry of Culture of Spain became interested in the Odyssey’s find, which urged to investigate the circumstances of the discovery by the Americans of the sea treasure. According to officials, “it is extremely suspicious that Odyssey categorically refuses to name who belonged to the sunken ship on which the treasures were located and where it was discovered” was previously reported.

The Government of Spain instructed the civil guard (militarized police) to establish the location of the ship with a valuable cargo. In case of violation by Odyssey, international laws, Madrid, is ready to declare its rights to the treasure, the Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom confirmed on Monday.

Madrid is suspected that "treasures could not be found near the English coast, but in the Gibraltar Strait area, where experts of the American company also work."

After the announcement of the detection of treasures worth half a billion dollars, Odyssey shares increased by 60%. The company said that its find was legally imported in the United States and is in a safe place while the process of paperwork is underway.

According to the law, Odyssey will receive up to 90% of the cost of its find, but this will depend on whether there will be any more applicants for it, for example, the same Spaniards, the British newspaper notes. “We will not scream with happiness. For the first time in a long time, we got the opportunity to breathe deeply,” Greg Shtemm said last year last year.

For Odyssey, the search for treasures becomes a profitable business. She discovered more than 50 thousand coins and other products on the Republic ship, sank off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. It took 12 years to find a ship. However, her efforts were not in vain - the find brought her $ 9.6 million.