HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — The man Nicolas Cage claims led him into financial ruin is firing back, accusing the actor of going on a wild spending spree after a string of box office hits.
Last month, the Oscar-winning star filed a $20 million lawsuit against his former business manager, Samuel J. Levin, claiming the man's advice led him down a path of destruction. Levin has since filed a countersuit in which he claims he warned Cage about the pitfalls of his lavish lifestyle.
According to court papers obtained by TMZ, Levin contends that in 2007 alone, Cage whipped out a cool $33 million for three homes. He also bought 22 cars (including 9 Rolls Royces), 12 pieces of expensive jewelry and 47 pieces of art. He also says Cage "spent huge sums of money taking his sizable entourage on costly vacations and threw enormous Gatsby-scale parties at his residences."
By 2008, Levin says Cage owned 15 palatial homes around the world, four yachts, an Island in the Bahamas, and a Gulfstream jet.
"[Cage] knows that his losses are entirely and solely the result of his own compulsive, self-destructive spending, which he engaged in against Levin's advice," states the complaint.
Levin also claims that Cage still owes him nearly $129,000 for his services.
When reached by TMZ, Cage's attorney, Marty Singer, said the allegations are nonsense.
"Levin's cross complaint is absurd," said Singer. "He was paid more than $1.3 million this last year-and-a-half. It's ironic he's making his claim for fees when he caused Nic to be in these financial problems while he was paid millions of dollars over the past several years to act as Nic's financial advisor."
In July, the U.S. government placed a tax lien on Cage's vast real estate holdings because of $6 million in unpaid back taxes dating from 2007, the same year he starred in the blockbuster films Ghost Rider and National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
On Tuesday, Cage escaped his financial problems by visiting a Kenyan prison holding suspected Somali pirates. As a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador on Drugs and Crime, Cage said he wanted to understand what is fueling piracy off the Somali coast.
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