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©
raywinstagram / Instagram; Michael Caronna / Reuters
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Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage has
agreed to hand back a rare Tyrannosaurus bataar skull to Mongolia after
learning the national treasure was illegally shipped from the country.
The
skull has been in the actor’s possession for nearly 10 years: Cage bought it in
March 2007 from the I.M. Chait Gallery in Beverly Hills. Cage’s publicist Alex
Schack told Reuters the Tyrannosaurus bataar skull had come with a certificate
of authenticity.
RT report continues:
US
authorities first contacted the Hollywood star in July 2014, informing him that
the 67-million-year-old skull may have been stolen.
Just
last week the office of Preet Bharara, the US attorney in Manhattan, filed a
civil complaint to take possession of the skull.
Although
the actor is not accused of any wrongdoing, after the decision by investigators
that the skull had indeed been illegally taken out of Mongolia, Cage agreed to
hand it over so that it can be returned to the country.
It
had earlier been reported that during the 2007 auction, Cage outbid his
colleague, Leonardo DiCaprio, splashing out US$276,000 on the T-rex relative’s
skull.
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Full skeleton of Tyrannosaurus
bataar (Image source: Twitter)
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In
2013 the Telegraph reported that the skull in question was purchased by
the I.M. Chait Gallery from Eric Prokopi, who was jailed in 2014 for illegally
exporting dinosaur remains to the US.
The
gallery, just as the actor himself, are not being accused of complicity in any
kind of con, but Assistant US Attorney Martyn Bell, who prosecuted Prokopi, was
also the lead government lawyer in the Cage case.
Since 2012 Bharara’s office
has recovered more than a dozen precious Mongolian fossils, including three
full Tyrannosaurus bataar skeletons - a big deal for a country that
criminalized the removal of fossils in 1924.
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