Nicolas Cage Sells Castle to Make Ends Meet

Nicolas Cage, the star of the blockbuster major motion picture, "National Treasure", is reportedly broke and buried in debt. Cage is selling properties and assets and liquidating real estate he owns from all over the world. Cage has defaulted on a $2 million loan and is apparently suing his former business manager who he claims put him on the path to financial ruin.

This past summer, the IRS placed a $6.26 million tax lien on properties owned by Cage in New Orleans, claiming Cage did not pay income taxes for 2007. That same year, Cage earned quite a bit from "Ghost Rider" and "National Treasure: Book of Secrets". The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that there is also a second lien for more than $360,000.00 placed by the IRS against Cage for unpaid taxes on income earned sometime between 2002 and 2004. This past spring, Cage also placed two properties on the market and was even forced to sell one of the many castles he owns. You know it's a tough economy when you gotta sell one of your castles.

The real truth is that Nicolas Cage is probably having some financial difficulties, but he's most likely not broke. Cage's net worth was last reported to be around $38 million according to Forbes magazine. He also earned about $40 million in 2008 and 2009. On October 16th, Cage filed a lawsuit against his former business manager, Samuel Levin, for alleged financial mismanagement. Apparently, Levin involved Cage in some risky and highly speculative real estate investments which resulted in some enormous financial losses for Cage. The lawsuit states that Cage is now "forced to sell major assets and investments at a significant loss and is faced with huge tax liabilities because of Levin's incompetence, misrepresentations and recklessness."

These recent financial troubles have just added more stress on top of the most recent tragedy in Cage's life. On October 27th, Cage's father suffered a heart attack and died. Cage canceled a planned screening of the new animated film, "Astro Boy", in which Cage provides the voice talent for a scientist. Cage recently stated that he loved the story about a boy robot and couldn't turn down tho possibility to help bring it to the big screen. Seems everyone is taking any job that comes their way these days.

It just shows that even Nicolas Cage is only human. Even a successful Hollywood actor who has made millions over the years can still mismanage his money or be a victim of money mismanagement. Whatever the case, if he's broke or not, it seems the current recession is hitting everyone hard, even castle owners.

Sources:
http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2009/10/nicolas_cages_homes_in_new_orl.html
http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a185115/cage-cancels-screening-after-dads-death.html