Ken Griffin, the hedge fund billionaire who owns Citadel Securities, purchased an nearly full Stegosaurus fossil at public sale on Wednesday, based on a report from the Wall Avenue Journal. The acquisition worth was $44.6 million, blowing away the previous document of $32 million for the most costly fossil ever purchased.

A press launch from Sotheby’s famous there have been seven bidders on the Stegosaurus fossil, dubbed “Apex,” and solely recognized the winner of the public sale as nameless. However the Wall Avenue Journal was the primary to report the 55-year-old Griffin had put within the highest bid, telling the newspaper he would mortgage it out to a U.S. establishment. “Apex was born in America and goes to remain in America,” Griffin reportedly mentioned.

The fossil was excavated in Moffat County, Colorado on personal land close to the city of Dinosaur in 2022 and 2023. Dinosaur will get its distinctive identify from its proximity to Dinosaur Nationwide Monument. Apex is described by Sotheby’s as being “preserved in beautiful element, exhibiting little distortion, and retaining a lot of their unique form and floor traits.”

“Nearly full, with 254 fossil bone parts (of an approximate whole of 319), the skeleton belonged to a big, strong grownup particular person, and proof of arthritis, indicating that it lived to a complicated age,” the public sale home mentioned in a press launch. “The specimen exhibits no indicators of fight associated accidents, or proof of autopsy scavenging, and displays a variety of attention-grabbing pathologies.”

The sale of Apex is controversial inside scientific circles, given the truth that most individuals assume such uncommon and vital historical past shouldn’t be managed by the whims of personal homeowners. Actually, the Washington Submit notes the unique Sotheby’s public sale listed the fossil as an undetermined species of stegosaurus, probably as a result of scientists haven’t been capable of correctly examine this discover. Clearly, Griffin’s quote to the Wall Avenue Journal is an try and make it appear as if he’s doing one thing beneficiant for the general public good by maintaining the fossil in america, nevertheless it’s not 12 months clear what sort of entry any establishment might need to the fossil past simply with the ability to put it on show for some time period.

Griffin’s Citadel Securities got here below hearth again in 2021 through the Gamestop meme inventory craze over allegations that he had one thing to do with the outages at Robinhood that restricted buying and selling. The hashtag “KenGriffinLied” even began to pattern, however the billionaire known as the allegations conspiracy theories, based on the Wall Avenue Journal.

Griffin is believed to be price about $38 billion and has given over $60 million to Republicans on this election cycle, based on the Monetary Occasions. Griffin supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis within the primaries and has but to present any cash to Donald Trump, so far as anybody is aware of. Griffin has beforehand mentioned he’d decide about supporting Trump after he noticed who the previous president would select for a vice presidential candidate. Trump selected Ohio Senator J.D. Vance this week, which implies Griffin’s donations might prolong to Trump within the close to future, relying on how he feels concerning the selection.