Key takeaways:
- Bhagavan “Doc” Antle pleaded guilty to trafficking wildlife and money laundering
- He oversaw the sale or purchase of two cheetah cubs, two lion cubs, two tigers and one juvenile chimpanzee
- He will pay a $100,000 fine and serve three years of probation, and will be sentenced in January 2021
Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, the owner of an exotic animal safari in South Carolina who gained recognition from the hit Netflix documentary series “Tiger King,” pleaded guilty Monday to trafficking wildlife and money laundering, federal prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina announced that Antle, 63, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and a conspiracy to launder money. The Lacey Act is a law that prohibits trafficking of illegally taken wildlife.
Prosecutors said that between September 2018 and May 2020, Antle oversaw the sale or purchase of two cheetah cubs, two lion cubs, two tigers and one juvenile chimpanzee, all of which were protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Antle rose to national prominence as one of the characters featured in “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” a 2020 Netflix documentary miniseries about tiger breeders in Florida and Oklahoma.
The plea agreement requires Antle to pay a $100,000 fine and to serve three years of probation. He will also be required to cooperate with the government in any ongoing investigations related to the case. Antle is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2021.
Be First to Comment