NEW YORK (AFP) – The actor Nicolas Cage agreed to provide the US federal courts of a dinosaur skull he bought for $ 276.000 at auction and had been stolen from Mongolia, a country which will be returned the fossil , said a spokeswoman for the artist.
The US attorney’s office in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, had filed a lawsuit last to claim the seizure of the skull of a Tyrannosaurus bataar, after discovering that the fossil week was admitted illegally in the United States from Mongolia and sold at auction in New York in 2007.
While the prosecution document spoke of an “anonymous buyer” who paid $ 276.000 for the fossil , one actor’s press officer, Alex Schack confirmed that Nicolas Cage was the one who took the skull and was contacted in July 2014 to be informed of the situation.
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According Schack, Cage, who had received a certificate of authenticity part of the auction house Chait Gallery, fully cooperated with the authorities, even agreeing skull inspection by agents of the internal security department and prosecutors.
After the authorities demonstrated that the skull in question had been smuggled into the United States and legally belonged to the government of Mongolia, “Nicolas Cage agreed to transfer ownership of the Department of Homeland Security,” according to a statement.
The Tyrannosaurus bataar is a smaller cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex and lived in the Gobi Desert in the late Cretaceous period about 65 million years ago, according to the document presented by the prosecution.
Nicolas Cage, who won an Oscar for best actor in 1996 for the film Leaving Las Vegas , would have fought in the auction with his colleague Leonardo Di Caprio to buy the fossil , according to US media.
The prosecution accused the actor or the gallery of charge.
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