Amelia Earhart Plane Found? Lawsuit Claims Group Hid Discovery In 2010 For Financial Gain [VIDEO]

Timothy Mellon, a Wyoming man is claiming that the plane flown by iconic aviator Amelia Earhart was found in 2010 by a Delaware aircraft preservation group, but kept it a secret. The lawsuit says the aircraft preservation group held onto the information in order to get Mellon to fund a search in the amount of $1 million.

The Delaware preservation group is denying Mellon's claim that they found Amelia Earhart's plane in 2010. As previously reported by Latin Times, recently captured SONAR images are believed to be that of Amelia Earhart's missing plane.

Csmonitor.com says the lawsuit claims the preservation group found the wreckage of Earhart's plane "The Lockheed Electra" when they searched the waters Kiribati atoll of Nikumaroro, 1,800 miles off the coast of Hawaii.

Mellon's suit claims the Delaware preservation group tried to defraud him when they approached Mellon in 2012 claiming his donating would make discovery of Amelia Earhart's plane possible.

Mellon's lawyer Tim Stubson told the Associated Press on Monday that he has examined the images from the 2010 search and says it is clear to him he is looking at Earhart's plane.

"As a layman, it is hard to see, unless you know what you are looking at," Stubson told AP. "Much of it relates to the landing gear and the parts that are unique to the landing gear."

Bill Carter is a lawyer representing the Delaware preservation team. He was a member of the search expedition launched in 2010 and denies the claim that his team found the plane belonging to Amelia Earhart.

Amelia Earhart has fascinated the popular imagination since her disappearance in 1937. Attempting to become the first woman to take a solo trip around the world Earhart and her navigator lost radio contact with ITASCA, the coast guard ship waiting to lend aide if needed and were never seen or heard from again.

In the last recorded radio transmission Earhart can be heard telling ITASCA that she knew she was close but could not find them. Earhart was running out of fuel at the time and it is likely her plane crashed into the sea.

Over the years there have been many academic and conspiracy theories as to what exactly happened to Amelia Earhart. Conspiracy theories range from, she was sucked up by the Bermuda Triangle to she went into hiding as Irene Craigmile Bolam and lived into her eighties.