Nicolas Cage bought a T-Rex skull and now has to return it to the Federal Government.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, filed a civil forfeiture complaint to take possession of a stolen dinosaur skull that a paleontologist had smuggled into the United States from Mongolia and sold to a gallery where it was apparently bought by Nicolas Cage.
Mongolia outlawed the export of dinosaur bones found within their borders nearly 100 years ago. In December 2012, paleontologist Eric Prokopi plead guilty to smuggling most of a Tyrannosaurus bataar skelton out of the Gobi desert. He served three months in prison and as part of his plea deal, Reuters reports, he helped recover at least 17 other stolen fossils.
Nicolas Cage himself was not officially identified, although authorities said that the skull’s owner is not accused of any wrongdoing and voluntarily agreed to turn the fossil over.
The lawsuit described the skull as having been bought at auction from a Beverly Hills gallery, I.M. Chait, in March 2007 for $276,000.
The details match those of Cage’s purchase, which made headlines after the Hollywood star encountered financial difficulties in subsequent years.
Nicolas Cage reportedly outbid Leonardo DiCaprio for the skull.
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