In November 2012, Leonardo DiCaprio — at the time, three months into filming “Wolf of Wall Street,” which would later further his legacy of almost-Oscars for a fourth time — received Marlon Brando’s best actor statuette for 1954’s “On the Waterfront” as a 38th birthday gift.
The gift-givers were DiCaprio’s business associates (and friends) at Red Granite Pictures, the production house behind “Wolf of Wall Street.” Now the 42-year-old actor has voluntarily handed over Brando’s Academy Award (in addition to several other pricey souvenirs from the Red Granite team) to the U.S. government as part of an ongoing investigation into a $3.5-billion Malaysian money-laundering scheme.
Authorities from the U.S. Department of Justice suspect that Red Granite co-founder Riza Aziz may have helped his stepfather, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, embezzle $4.5 billion from a political development scheme in that part of the world. A portion of those misappropriated funds were used to bankroll the production company and subsequently back “The Wolf…
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