“Tiger King” star Bhagavan “Doc” Antle has been charged with laundering greater than half one million {dollars}, cash federal prosecutors mentioned Monday that he believed to be the proceeds of an operation to smuggle folks throughout the Mexican border into america.
Expenses in opposition to Antle and Andrew Jon Sawyer, one among Antle’s staff at Myrtle Seashore Safari, had been revealed throughout a federal court docket listening to in Florence, South Carolina.
In response to federal prosecutors, Antle and Sawyer laundered $505,000 over a four-month interval by doling out checks from companies they managed, receiving a 15% charge of the cash that handed by their arms.
The checks, prosecutors allege, falsely presupposed to be cost for building work at Myrtle Seashore Safari however had been in actuality meant to function proof that the recipients had official earnings.
In response to the criticism unsealed in court docket Monday, Antle mentioned his plan to hide the money he acquired by inflating vacationer numbers at his 50-acre (20-hectare) wildlife tropical protect. Prosecutors additionally mentioned he had beforehand used bulk money receipts to buy animals for which he couldn’t use checks.
Data for the Horry County jail present Antle and Sawyer had been each arrested Friday. Attorneys for each males didn’t instantly touch upon the costs when reached through e-mail.
In response to authorities, Antle and Sawyer every face a most of 20 years in federal jail if convicted.
Antle is featured prominently in “Tiger King: Homicide, Mayhem and Insanity,” a 2020 Netflix documentary miniseries that centered on tiger breeders and personal zoo operators within the U.S. The collection centered closely on Oklahoma zoo operator Joe Unique, who additionally was focused for animal mistreatment and was convicted in a plot to kill a rival, Carole Baskin.
Animal rights advocates have accused Antle of mistreating lions and different wildlife. He was indicted in Virginia in 2020 on animal cruelty and wildlife trafficking expenses.
In Might, Folks for the Moral Remedy of Animals requested the IRS to probe Antle’s Uncommon Species Fund, a nonprofit elevating cash for wildlife conservation. PETA alleges he makes use of a number of the fund’s cash to subsidize his safari website in Socastee exterior Myrtle Seashore.
“It’s becoming that ‘Doc’ Antle is behind bars after years of locking up the endangered animals he makes use of in tawdry photograph ops. His authorized woes are mounting, as PETA lately blew the whistle on his obvious ‘charity’ rip-off, and the top to his reign of terrorizing tiger cubs can’t come quickly sufficient,” mentioned Debbie Metzler, affiliate director of PETA’s Captive Animal Regulation Enforcement division, in a press release.
In the meantime, in Virginia, Antle is going through two felony counts of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to wildlife trafficking expenses, in addition to 13 misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act and animal cruelty expenses tied to trafficking lion cubs. These expenses are scheduled to go to trial subsequent month.
Antle has a historical past of recorded violations, going way back to 1989, when he was fined by the U.S. Division of Agriculture for abandoning deer and peacocks at his zoo in Virginia. Over time, he has greater than 35 USDA violations for mistreating animals.
Meg Kinnard might be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
