This old fart is a jokester and a hoaxster.
In the early ’80s, along with the former Texas governor John Connally, he went in on a cache of a hundred paintings by the infamous high-art forger Elmyr de Hory. When he displayed the work at his gallery, customers responded with horror upon being informed that the paintings were fakes. Fenn happily volleyed the outrage back: “If you like it less because it’s a fake, who is the fraud now?” He sold the de Horys, like most everything else, at a huge profit.
After our post appeared, we were contacted by Linda Bilyeu, Randy's ex-wife and the person who assisted in the search for him.
Corresponding via e-mail, Linda was withering in her criticism of Fenn. She believes his treasure is a hoax. In her words, "Randy lost his life searching for 'nothing.'"
"The entire saga of the hidden chest is nothing but an enigma," she maintains. "I believe it's a hoax due to an abundant amount of common sense. After seven months of in-depth research, I have yet to discover one iota of concrete evidence that the chest does exist. Not just me, but many others. I'm referring to law enforcement, journalists, TV media, treasure hunters, ex-treasure hunters...etc. The attention motivates him. That's all he needs. It's oxygen to him."