Nicolas Cage Returns Rare Tyrannosaurus Skull to Mongolian Government
Nicolas Cage recently took it upon himself to return a rare Tyrannosaurus skull to the Mongolian government.
The 51-year-old "National Treasure" actor agreed to hand over the bataar skull to U.S. authorities, after finding out it had been previously stolen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Cage had purchased the skull for $276,000 from the Beverly Hills gallery I.M. Chait in 2007, outbidding Leonardo DiCaprio for the prize.
Even though Cage was given a certificate of authentication when he bought the fossil, the Department of Homeland Security informed him in July 2014 that the skull might have been stolen. After an investigation was completed, it was discovered that the skull was taken illegally from Mongolia.
According to Reuters, the office of Preet Bharara, a U.S. attorney in Manhattan, filed a civil forfeiture complaint last week in order to take possession of the stolen skull.
The gallery had previously purchased a smuggled dinosaur skeleton from convicted paleontologist Eric Prokopi, who Bharara has labeled a "one-man black market in prehistoric fossils." However, it is unclear whether this skeleton was the same skull given up by Cage. Prokopi plead guilty in December 2012 for smuggling the Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton from Mongolia's Gobi desert and was sentenced to three months in prison.
When Cage found out the news, he was more than willing to return the rare skull to its rightful owners, according to the actor's publicist Alex Schack.
Neither Cage nor the gallery was accused of any misconduct regarding the stolen dinosaur skeleton.
Cage stars in several movies coming out in 2016, including "The Trust," "Army of One," "Snowden," "USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage" and "Dog Eat Dog." He is also set to voice the character of Grug for "The Croods 2," which will be released in 2017, and is also rumored to be starring in "National Treasure 3," which has no release date as of yet.
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