Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, best known for appearing in Netflix docuseries 2020. The tiger kingpleaded guilty to wildlife trafficking and money laundering charges, the U.S. attorney for South Carolina announced in a news release Monday.
The former zookeeper, 63, previously owned and operated the Institute for Highly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS) — also known as Myrtle Beach Safari.
From September 2018 to May 2020, Antle conspired to violate the Lacey Act, prosecutors said. The accused bought or managed the sale of species protected under the Endangered Species Act, including two cheetah cubs, two lions, two tigers and one young chimpanzee.
“The defendant held himself out as a conservationist, but he repeatedly violated laws protecting endangered animals and then attempted to cover up those violations,” Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) said, according to a news release. public. .
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Doctor Antle. Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe/Getty
Antle requested that payments for endangered species be made to his nonprofit so they could appear as “donations,” prosecutors said. He also falsified paperwork to show non-commercial transfers were entirely within a single state and used bulk cash payments to hide the transactions.
US Fish and Wildlife Service Assistant Director Edward Grace explained that wildlife crime is “often” linked to other crimes, such as money laundering.
Tiger King’s Doc Antle accused of wildlife trafficking
From February to April 2022, Antle and “a co-conspirator conducted financial transactions with cash they believed was derived from the transportation and harboring of illegal aliens,” according to the press release. Antle and an accomplice conducted these transactions to attempt to cover up and conceal the nature of the “illegal money.”
The two took the cash and deposited it into bank accounts they controlled. The couple received a 15% fee for the money they laundered.
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The Tiger King: The Story of Doctor Antlo. Netflix
Antle faces a maximum of five years in prison on each count, as well as a fine of up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release. The FBI and US Fish and Wildlife Service continue to investigate the case.
Antle was known as the founder of the nonprofit organization Rare Species Fund and the owner of Myrtle Beach Safari. Myrtle Beach Safari is a 50-acre wildlife sanctuary that offers tours and private encounters with exotic wildlife.
A request to PEOPLE for comment from the Myrtle Beach Safari was not immediately returned.
‘Tiger King’ Doc Antle charged with money laundering in connection with alleged human smuggling
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Antle became famous across the country when he was featured in Netflix’s hit documentary series The tiger king. After its release, the zoo owner criticized the series as “spoiled”.
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The Tiger King: The Story of Doctor Antlo. (L to R) Joe Exotic and Doc Antle in Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story. Netflix
In October 2021, he participated in a new documentary, Tiger Kingdom: More Than a King, hoping that the series will paint a different picture of him and his animal park. Two months later, Netflix released another sequel The tiger king, The story of Doctor Antloand focused on Antle rather than Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic.
Joe Exotic, The tiger kingThe original subject of Big Cat Watch, he was found guilty in 2019 of paying a hitman $3,000 to kill Big Cat Rescue activist Carole Baskin.
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