Nicolas Cage debt self-inflicted, says former manager who counter-sues

[HMG] Oscar-winning Actor, Nicolas Cage has some widely-reported money troubles right now, and has since tried to blame every living thing but himself. But this did not please his agent, who got most of that blame.

Hired by Cage as his business manager in 2001, Samuel Levin now tells reporters his client caused his own money troubles with rash spending sprees that included two castles, a $25-million jet, 15 huge homes, a large fleet of yachts and a collection of cars that could put Jay Leno to shame.

Last month, Cage filed a lawsuit claiming Sam, “lined his pockets with several million dollars in fees while guiding Nicolas toward financial ruin.” According to CNN, the suit also demands $20-million in damages for “incompetence, misrepresentation and gross recklessness.”

Levin soon counter-sued, saying he warned the 46-year old Cage to cut back the spending or risk Chapter 11, and that Nic was even in debt when they first worked together in 2001, because he had “already squandered tens of millions of dollars earned as a movie star.”

Sam’s engaging lawsuit then goes on to prove this: In 2007 alone, Nic’s mad shopping sprees bagged three homes totaling $35 million; 22 cars (including nine Rolls Royce); two-dozen paintings and more than a dozen pieces of very big-ticket jewelry.

He even bought a huge yacht for each of his four favorite beaches; Bermuda, Newport, Rhode Island, and the entire Mediterranean region of France, so Levin’s suit says.

In fact, so much money went out, Nic needed to earn $30-million a year just to cover the bills.

The whole house-of-cards then imploded last year when real estate values collapsed and the first wave of recession made borrowing more money pretty close to impossible. The lawsuits soon started flying, and both will now come to fruit on February 3rd in a Beverly Hills court.

And we’ll be right here to report every blow…