Nicolas Cage Agrees To Hand Over Stolen Dinosaur Skull

An expensive dinosaur skull made its way from a Beverly Hills gallery to Nicholas Cage back in March 2007. The actor paid $276,000 for the item. It was later discovered that the skull belonged to a museum in Mongolia, from which it was stolen. Once the authorities located the skull and informed Cage of what had transpired, the actor agreed to return the item to the museum, despite the small fortune he had paid for it.

The office of U.S. attorney Preet Bharara filed a civil forfeiture complaint last week in order to take possession of the Mongolian skull. Cage was not specified as the owner of the skull in the lawsuit, but his publicist confirmed that the skull was indeed bought from a Beverly Hills gallery, as was suspected. The actor, who is not accused of wrongdoing, was more than willing to hand over the item to the authorities.