By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A furious legal battle has erupted over efforts to recover $1.5bn in sunken treasure from Bahamian waters amid accusations that all parties involved have violated this nation’s laws.

David Concannon, an attorney and spokesperson for Allen Exploration Group (AEG), revealed to Tribune Business via e-mailed reply that the dispute with Freeport-based Daniel Porter, principal of Maritime Research & Recovery (MRR), has caused temporary disruption to the recovery of valuable artifacts and treasure from the sunken Spanish galleon, Nuestra Senora de la Maravillas.

Confirming that AEG had previously hired Mr Porter and his firm to provide vessels and other resources for the salvage and exploration operation near Grand Bahama, he voiced optimism that the Florida court fight will cause no lasting damage to the company’s plans with the relevant Bahamian government agencies already aware of developments.

“We do not believe this should impact ongoing exploration efforts except for a brief pause while we replace the vessels used by Mr Porter. Almost all of the crew from the vessels, most of whom are Bahamian, asked to stay with Allen Exploration and we have kept them on,” Mr Concannon said.

“We sincerely hope this does not have any negative effect on the relationship between Allen Exploration and the Government of The Bahamas. Frankly, as you can see from our legal filings, Mr Allen, the company and the crew were all victims.

“We have notified all of the appropriate Government authorities, including Customs and the AMMC (Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation), and we continue to update them when we discover new information.”

AEG, whose principal, Texan investor Carl Allen, has funded the multi-million revival of Walker’s Cay in the Abacos, and Mr Porter and his firm appear to have both hardened their stance in a battle that stems from a 2019 agreement where the latter was hired to help recover gold and silver coins, jewellery, bars and other artifacts of historical significance from the Bahamian seabed.

The escalating hostilities have resulted in Mr Allen and his company accusing Mr Porter of misusing their assets to import goods and furniture for his Freeport home while evading due Customs and import duties in the process. Mr Porter and his firm have countered, though, by asserting that AEG has itself “repeatedly violated Bahamian law” by operating outside the areas where it is permitted to explore.

Documents filed with the south Florida federal court, which have been obtained and inspected by Tribune Business, reveal the full details of the fight over Bahamian patrimony and heritage between the Texan multi-millionaire and someone described in his own lawsuit as “a world-renowned treasure salvor” responsible for recovering “millions” in Spanish treasure. The two sides are each vehemently denying the other’s allegations against them.

Mr Potter, in initiating legal action, alleged that Mr Allen and AEG sought to hire his expertise and skills to assist with the Nuestra exploration and recovery because they lacked the necessary knowledge at that time. He claims the two parties agreed “a treasure recovery operation” where Mr Porter and his firm would receive 30 percent of the artifacts recovered once the Bahamian government had taken its share.

The Spanish galleon, according to Mr Porter, is estimated to have sunk with a $5bn fortune at today’s values with some $1.5bn in gold and silver thought to remain unrecovered. He, though, is alleging that Mr Allen and AEG have reneged on their deal and are now refusing to pay MRR’s rightful share of $10m in “undivided treasure” that has been recovered.

Asserting that he and MMR are due between $1.5m-$2m from these recoveries, Mr Porter is also claiming that AEG has seized intellectual property worth $20m in the form of a map and recovery plan he produced for not only the Nuestra’s $1.5bn but a second Spanish treasure galleon, the Genovese, which was part of the same Spanish fleet and also sank in Bahamian waters centuries ago.

However, Mr Allen and AEG have asserted in their defence and counter-claim that they would never have agreed their 2019 deal with Mr Porter if they had known he had signed a similar agreement, and was still under contract, with a rival underwater explorer, Edward Lee Spence, to also search for the Nuestra.

They claimed that they only found out about Mr Porter and MRR’s contract with Mr Spence when the latter reached out some six days after AEX “completed their first division of artifacts” from the Nuestra with the Bahamian government on August 10, 2021. That was when the former Minnis administration was still in office.

Ultimately, Mr Allen and AEX said they reached a deal with Mr Spence where Mr Porter - but not MRR - was released from his obligations. Mr Porter returned to working for AEX via a convoluted structure involving an unnamed Bahamian company owned by “a third-party”, but it was alleged that he subsequently became “less productive” and artifact recoveries and discoveries slowed down in both 2023 and 2024.

“In sum, Porter was being paid to look, but not to find, and he was constantly proposing more ways for him to be paid more money,” Mr Allen and AEX alleged. “As Porter’s expenses mounted, Mr Allen and AEX began to take a closer look at where the money was going and how Porter was performing his assigned tasks. What they found was shocking.”

Setting out multiple charges, Mr Allen and AEX claimed that their contractor “failed to use money he was given to pay the Government for multiple work permits to pay for any work permit except his own”. They also alleged he used their money to pay personal expenses, while using vessels and crew hired by AEX on salvage work for others while “rarely” going to explore the Nuestra site in winter despite being paid to do so.

And Mr Allen and AEX are also asserting that Mr Porter and his company have repeatedly refused to return their “unique and confidential search data acquired over the past five seasons at a cost of millions of dollars”. They claim they have already incurred “substantial harm”, including “reputational damage with the Government of The Bahamas”.

Mr Porter, though, is claiming that AEX only received the first underwater exploration permit to be issued by the Bahamian government in 21 years as a result of the expertise he and MRR brought. “At the time Porter first met Allen, Allen was inexperienced in the intricacies of finding and recovering sunken treasure,” he alleged in a lawsuit filed in the south Florida court on October 10, 2024.

“Knowing this, Allen and AEX entered into a contract with Porter and MMR to educate, advise and implement a treasure recovery operation for the Maravillas. The original contract between MRR and AEX for this salvage called for Porter and MRR to receive 30 percent of recovered artifacts. The parties did divide initially recovered treasure per that 30 percent agreed division.”

That 30 percent split, which generated around $400,000 for Mr Porter and MRR from the initial divide, occurred after the Bahamian government took its cut. Initially a 75/25 split in favour of the explorer, the Davis administration introduced legislation passed by Parliament last year to make it a balanced 50/50.

Noting that the Nuestra wreck site has been salvaged repeatedly over the years, including by illegal operators, Mr Porter said explorers recovered gold ingots, more than half a ton of silver bars and silver and gold coins in 1972 - a year before The Bahamas gained independence. Further efforts were made from 1986 to the early 1990s, but the Government “barred further salvage operations” at that site in 199.

“It has been conservatively estimated that there remains $1.5bn in unrecovered gold and silver of the Maravillas,” Mr Porter claimed. “Defendant Allen and AEX utilised the reputation and expertise of plaintiffs, Porter and MRR, to obtain a recovery permit from the Bahamian government for salvaging the Maravillas wreck site.” The permit was issued on July 15, 2020.

This, though, was denied by Mr Allen and AEX. “The historic issuance of the recovery permit to Mr Allen had absolutely nothing to do with Porter and MRR who, unbeknownst to Mr Allen, AEX and the Government of The Bahamas, had searched for the Maravillas without an exploration permit from 2015 to perhaps 2019.

“Instead, it is more likely that the recovery permit was issued to Mr Allen based on his philanthropy and long-standing commitment to The Bahamas.” The reference to 2015 to 2019 is the period when Mr Porter and MRR were allegedly under contract with rival explorer, Mr Spence, as their tie-up with AEX was not concluded until that latter year.

Mr Porter, meanwhile, alleged that he and MRR were contracted by AEX to train Bahamian divers and oversee the day-to-day salvage operations. “MRR’s work at the salvage site was arduous and dangerous,” he claimed. “Spanning over three years, Porter made over 100 trips to sea along with a crew of divers and dug over 9,000 large exploration areas....”

Often having to dig through eight feet of sand to find the Nuestra wreckage, Mr Porter alleged that “millions of dollars of artifacts were recovered, including gold link belts, gold coins, silver bars, various gold jewellery, near flawless emeralds and thousands of valuable ship artifacts” due to his and MRRs efforts.

“At the present time there are two ‘lots’ of artifacts that the Bahamian government has approved for division between AEX and MRR,” Mr Porter continued. “The 30 percent share owed to MRR has a value of approximately $1.6m. AEX has refused to divide these artifacts with MRR as the parties’ agreement requires.

“The gross value of undivided treasure eligible to be divided exceeds $10m in artifact value. These artifacts are being held and controlled by Allen and AEX. There are also additional groups of artifacts MRR has recovered in its search which the Bahamian government has not yet reviewed and determined which pieces it intends to keep. MRR’s share of the remaining artifacts is estimated to be in excess of $500,000.”

Mr Porter also claimed that in May 2024 he presented Mr Allen and AEX with an operational plan setting out his “opinions and conclusions” on where the remainder of the Nuestra’s unrecovered treasure is located. “Essentially a ‘treasure map’ to treasures worth over $1.5bn” was how he described it, with the plan also detailing the potential location of the other sunken galleon, the Genovese and its 3.5m silver pesos.

However, despite advising that the Genovese “would be the ‘largest recovery’ by treasure hunters in the last 40 years”, Mr Porter alleged that upon supplying his plan he was abruptly dumped by Mr Allen and AEX who “unilaterally” terminated their recovery-sharing deal and hired away all his Bahamian divers.

“Defendants should not be permitted to recover damages from plaintiffs because, among other things, defendants have repeatedly violated Bahamian law regarding recovery of artifacts and exploration in areas the defendants knew they were not permitted to explore or retrieve artifacts,” Mr Porter alleged in attacking the counter-claim against him.

However, Mr Allen and AEX paint a very different picture of events in their defence and counter-claim. Revealing that they first met Mr Porter in September 2019 during Hurricane Dorian relief efforts, they said: “Due primarily to bad experience(s) with American salvors of the Maravillas, the Bahamian government stopped issuing all recovery licences for any shipwreck in any part of The Bahamas in 1999....

“Had they known about Porter and MRR’s contractual relationship with Spence, Mr Allen and AEX never would have engaged in any discussions with Porter or MRR about the Maravillas or any other shipwreck on the Little Bahama Banks.”

Mr Allen and AEX, referring to the Freeport-based museum they created to showcase their underwater recoveries, said: “Mr Allen and AEX have searched for and recovered artifacts from the Maravillas under a series of one-year exploration and recovery licences issued by The Bahamas since 2019 and 2020, respectively.

“Members of the [Royal Bahamas] Defence Force are stationed on the recovery vessels and the artifacts recovered are carefully cataloged and conserved. As the recovery of artifacts continued, Mr Allen determined that he wanted to keep his share of the artifacts recovered in a museum and conservation facility he was developing on Grand Bahama.

“The facility would be open to the public and also provide educational materials about The Bahamas’ rich maritime history. Any profits obtained would be re-invested in the Maravillas project and other initiatives.”

After resolving Mr Porter’s entanglement with Mr Spence, Mr Allen and AEX alleged: “AEX’s 2022 season was generally good but the 2023 and 2024 seasons were poor. Porter seemed to work less and take more days off due to supposed weather or equipment issues. The searches became less productive and, oddly, whenever Porter and his crew did find an area that yielded artifacts, Porter quickly moved away to a different area.

“When Porter and his crew did make a significant find, it was usually in a search area revealed in records that Mr Allen had purchased from the estate of Robert Marx, a legendary treasure hunter who had spent a decade researching the archives in Spain for clues to the location of the Maravillas, and then searching on the Little Bahamas Bank.”

After terminating Mr Porter “for cause” in July 2024, Mr Allen and AEX claimed: “Since his termination, Porter has repeatedly refused to comply with the terms of the ‘confidentiality agreement” he and MRR signed on November 13, 2019.

“He has refused repeated verbal and written requests to return AEX’s unique and confidential search data acquired over the past five seasons at a cost of millions of dollars, and he has directed the contractor he hired on behalf of AEX to create a comprehensive database of its search and recovery data to retain this data and database and not turn it over to AEX....

“Porter’s retention of the data would give him a competitive advantage if he decided to continue searching for the Maravillas with his vessels, which he apparently did without a permit from 2015 to 2019.” Mr Allen and AEX are claiming he is using this database as leverage to obtain payment of his claimed 30 percent artifact share.

“Among other damages, AEX has lost valuable operational time during the summer weather window, AEX and Mr Allen will lose the millions of dollars they spent to compile their confidential information and data, and AEX and Mr Allen will be forced to incur millions of dollars to recreate their unlawfully retained data and database,” the counter-claim alleges, while demanding Mr Porter return the first $400,000 payment.