The Oscar winner was gifted Marlon Brando’s Academy Award by a financier accused of fraud.
Leonardo DiCaprio gave back an Academy Award in his possession to the feds last year and here's why.
Don’t worry, it’s not the golden trophy he earned for his role in 2015 film The Revenant. It’s actually Marlon Brando’s 1954 Oscar for On the Waterfront.
The 44-year-old actor was gifted the Oscar by Malaysian financier Jho Low, who originally bought the Oscar for $600,000 at an auction.
DiCaprio was also nominated for an Oscar for his role in 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street, a film which Low financed. The problem? According to an article published by The New York Times earlier this week, Low is being accused by prosecutors of committing fraud against an investment fund for billions of dollars.
DiCaprio has handed over the Oscar as well as a painting by Pablo Picasso and any additional gifts given to him by Low, The Hollywood Reporter reported in June 2017.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has the right to buy any Oscar back for $1, so that’s where the trophy will likely land once the investigation has concluded.
Low is currently a fugitive, who the Times says is “believed to be hiding in China.”
For more from DiCaprio, watch the clip below:
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