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When not taking the editors of Entertainment Weekly to task for daring to turn their noses up at examples of his populist, flaming-skull-laden mythic art, actor/thinker/star-of-the-people Nicolas Cage enjoys spending his leisure time amassing exotic sports cars. Three years ago, a crooked auto broker with an intimate knowledge of the market took advantage of Cage's unwavering faith in humankind, a breach of confidence for which he must now pay dearly:

A classic-car broker who swindled actor Nicolas Cage and other clients before he was caught in Spain was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison and $1.8 million in restitution. [...]

Cage, identified in the 14-count indictment as "N.C.," lost $300,000 in April 2004 when [Peter] Brotman didn't send him the full proceeds from the sale of three Ferraris and a Cobra.

Hopefully one rotten egg won't discourage the actor from continuing to place his full trust in the good middlemen and middlewomen of the exotic car brokerage industry. Should Brotman earn an early parole or fail to pay restitution, however, we imagine Cage will quickly lose patience with the red tape of international legal channels, and choose instead to don his attack bear suit and seek out his own brand of bareknuckle justice.