Nicolas Cage returns stolen dinosaur skull to Mongolian government

Show Caption Hide Caption Nicolas Cage to give back dinosaur skull to Mongolia Nicolas Cage has agreed to hand over a dinosaur skull from his personal collection to U.S. authorities so it can be taken back to Mongolia where it was originally discovered.

In a story ripped straight from a Nicolas Cage film, the Oscar-winning actor has agreed to turn over a stolen dinosaur skull that he bought for $276,000 to the Mongolian government.

Cage had purchased the rare Tyrannosaurus bataar skull back in 2007, unaware that it had entered the country illegally, according to Reuters. Alex Schack, a spokesman for Cage, told Reuters the National Treasure actor was contacted by the Department of Homeland Security in July 2014, and agreed to hand over the skull to U.S. authorities after investigation proved it had been taken illegally from Mongolia.

A civil forfeiture lawsuit to take possession of the skull was filed by U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, last week.

Cage bought the skull from a Beverly Hills gallery, I.M. Chait, in March 2007, outbidding fellow actor Leonardo DiCaprio for the skull, according to news reports at the time. Cage even received a certificate of authentication from the gallery.

The I.M. Chait gallery had previously purchased and sold an illegally smuggled dinosaur skeleton from convicted paleontologist Eric Prokopi. Bharara called Prokopi a "one-man black market in prehistoric fossils," according to Reuters.

Neither Cage nor the gallery have been accused of any wrongdoing. It is unclear whether there is a connection between Prokopi and the skull Cage is returning.

The Tyrannosaurus bataar was a carnivore that lived nearly 70 million years ago. Its remains have been discovered only in Mongolia, which criminalized the export of dinosaur fossils in 1924.