[gregable]

Totally agreed. The spirit of the whole thing seemed about adventure, exploration, and fun. Unfortunately the reality of the finder seems to be a far different set of stress which I hope he eventually is able to escape from.

[buran77]

It should be the right of the finder to stay anonymous but the cat's out of the bag now.

But this I don't understand though:

> and they both seemed to agree that the location of the find should be kept secret

In the interest of transparency after the fact I see no problem with telling people where the treasure actually was. This gives people closure especially to the ones who suffered or the families of the ones who died hunting for it, lets them verify that the instructions they went on were indeed valid, and puts to rest other suspicions people may have.

Under these conditions a judge has nothing to go on if they want to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the finder cheated in any way. There are no details on how this happened, the initiator of the treasure hunt passed away so there's nothing stopping anyone from taking this to court. Transparency is there specifically to preempt claims like this.

[sevencolors]

He said it was recovered in Wyoming. The person with the lawsuit claims they had a location in New Mexico. Not sure how the judge would let this proceed, but here we are

[buran77]

> He said

That's the problem, it's a "he said she said" because there's no official record. The decision to keep the location hidden even after the hunt was over makes no sense. And now the source of truth is dead with no evidence left behind, that we know of now. Imagine the lottery awarding the prize without telling you the numbers.

> Not sure how the judge would let this proceed

Because judges tend to be wary about claims made by the accused that don't have some evidence behind them to review. Fenn's log book or diary, any dated record from the time he planned and executed the preparation for the treasure hunt, or his signed affidavit could have been exactly what stopped these lawsuits in their tracks.

But as it stands neither Fenn nor the finder of the treasure considered it's a good idea to be transparent even after many people suffered financial hardship, injuries, or even death pursuing the same dream. This is not an unexpected outcome.