He is a two-time Academy Award winner who's known for his dramatic roles in Mystic River, Dead Man Walking; he's tugged at our heartstrings through his roles as a father with a developmental disability in "I Am Sam," and as a gay rights activist and politician, Harvey Milk, in "Milk."

Now he's taken on another dramatic role, but this time it's a real-life drama involving an "Orthodox Jew with a flooring business in Brooklyn," who was jailed in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, for 18 months, then placed under house arrest and ultimately fled from Bolivia -- and is now in the actor-activist's care.

On Monday, Jacob Ostreicher returned to the U.S. after a controversial saga that began more than two years ago when he was jailed and suspected to be part of a money laundering probe.

"Mr. Ostreicher, who is in his mid-50s, went to Bolivia several years ago to manage a rice-farming enterprise he had invested in [with a group of Swiss investors]. He ended up being accused by the Bolivian authorities of laundering drug money, a charge he denies," according to The New York Times. 

According to The Associated Press, Ostreicher alleged a Colombian woman who was running the venture skimmed investors' money was romantically involved with a Brazilian drug trafficker. All the while, prosecutors were trying to extort tens of thousands of dollars from him to let him go, he claimed.

"Ostreicher charged later that prosecutors and other government employees had illegally sold 18,000 metric tons of the venture's rice and stole equipment as well as demanded a $50,000 payoff to get him out of jail."

"They robbed me of close to $50 million worth of assets," Ostreicher told the AP in an interview a year ago. "He said that in addition to the rice, about 900 cattle disappeared along with 37 tractors and harvesting equipment."

"Prosecutors never formally charged him, but in June 2011 he was jailed in Palmasola prison, a notorious complex with 3,500 prisoners that is ruled internally by an inmates' committee. Mr. Ostreicher claimed that he was assaulted and humiliated until he paid off functionaries of the committee," the New York Times reports.

Ostreicher "had been freed from jail in December 2012 at a hearing attended by Penn but barred from leaving Bolivia. A frustrated Penn vowed he wouldn't abandon him," the AP adds.

"'If it weren't for Sean Penn I would be another statistic in Bolivia and I would die in prison,'" Ostreicher told the AP a year ago. Previous efforts on his behalf by U.S. diplomats and lawmakers had proved fruitless."

Back in June 2013, Penn, who is also known for his left-wing political and social activism, pleaded for support for Ostreicher's return to the U.S. from President Evo Morales, the Bolivian people and backers of the Dakar Rally (a major international motors sports event minutes from where Ostreicher was being held in captivity).

"It is high-time [Jacob Ostreicher]'s elderly parents, wife [now former wife], children and grandchildren receive him back in the United States to move on with their lives," Penn reiterated from his original testimony to President Morales.

"This tragic scenario is NOT Bolivia. It is NOT the Bolivian people. It is NOT the Bolivian President. What it is, is an example of the continuing of Bolivia's hundred years struggle in its fight for human rights and its revolution for freedom.  In that revolution, Bolivians have demonstrated an extraordinary courage and will for sacrifice."

In the midst of this confusing saga, many continue to be puzzled as to how exactly how the New York businessman fled and or who helped assist in his escape from Bolivia.  

According to the AP, Penn said in an email that Ostreicher is safe, doing well and receiving medical attention at an undisclosed location.  

In the statement sent to the AP, Penn said a "humanitarian operation" had been mounted to extract Ostreicher "from the corrupt prosecution and imprisonment he was suffering in Bolivia." He didn't provide additional details or say who was behind it, and he didn't respond to questions sent by the AP.

"Penn's involvement in Ostreicher's departure was just the latest twist in a bizarre saga that began Monday when the businessman's family contacted the AP saying they hadn't heard from him in a few days and feared he had been kidnapped.

"Ostreicher's former secretary, Alicia Gutierrez, told the AP that she received a phone call from his presumed captors demanding family members travel to Bolivia in the next 48 hours, while a maid, Victoria Rocha, said it looked as if he hadn't been home in the city of Santa Cruz since traveling to La Paz on Friday to supposedly pick up some kosher food sent by his family.

"Later, Aron Ostreicher called to say his brother might be in the U.S. and then the State Department confirmed that the businessman had arrived in the U.S. on Monday morning.

"On Tuesday, the brother said that neither he nor anyone in his family had spoken to Ostreicher, though they had been assured by the U.S. government that he was recovering from his ordeal."

"'He's safe, healthy, very tired but can't be seen,' Aron Ostreicher told the AP, adding that he hadn't been given details of how his brother left Bolivia."

Will we get to the bottom of this? Or will Hollywood tackle the subject on the big screen -- it already has its leading man.

"You'll never find out," Peter Hakim, president emeritus of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, said Tuesday. If the U.S. was involved, "it was done through layers and layers of cover," he said.

The Bolivian government "reacted angrily to news of his departure, calling him a fugitive."

"Justice Minister Cecilia Ayllon said she didn't know whether the U.S. government played a role in Ostreicher's escape, saying only that he duped authorities at an unspecified border crossing Sunday night before boarding an LAN Chile plane in the Peruvian capital of Lima for a flight to Los Angeles.

"'His escape demonstrates that he was involved in the crimes he's accused of,' Ayllon said at a news conference, adding that Bolivia is alerting Interpol and could request the American's extradition."

The AP also points out that "The State Department said Tuesday it hadn't received any inquiries from Bolivia's government, and Morales didn't mention the case in a 10-minute speech at a summit of Latin American leaders in Caracas, Venezuela.

"Bolivia has an extradition treaty with the U.S., but relations between the two countries have been strained since Morales, a former coca grower, expelled the U.S. ambassador in 2008. In July, Morales threatened to close the American diplomatic mission altogether after accusing the U.S. of pressuring European allies to block his return from Russia on suspicion that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden was aboard his presidential plane."