Leonardo DiCaprio has been forced to hand back his Academy Award statue, but it's not the one he won for The Revenant.

The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star just so happens to be a collector of eclectic and historically celebrated items, so when the Oscar belonging to Marlon Brando that he keeps at his home was recently caught up in a fraud case, DiCaprio had to give it up.

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According to The New York Times, DiCaprio was presented with the statue as a gift by Malaysian financier Jho Low alongside some other precious objects, including a painting by Pablo Picasso and a collage created by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Brando's Oscar – which he won for Best Actor for his performance in 1954 film On the Waterfront – disappeared from his Hollywood residence and was later bought by the financier for $600,000 from a film memorabilia dealer.

Low is now being accused of allegedly committing fraud against an investment fund, which is why DiCaprio had to hand over the gifts he's got from him. Low has denied the allegations.

Getty Images Jeff J Mitchell

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Interestingly (but not for DiCaprio), it's alleged that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences actually has the right to buy the statue back from government when the investigation comes to a close for just $1.

It looks like DiCaprio might have to win himself another one to fill that space on his mantelpiece – but as he's teamed up with director Quentin Tarantino again and is possibly working once more with Steven Spielberg, that notion might not be out of the question.



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