Tiger King star Doc Antle is facing up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to animal trafficking and money laundering on Monday.
Bhagavan ‘Doc’ Antle, 63, oversaw the sale or purchase of cheetah, lion and tiger cubs as well as a baby chimpanzee – all which are protected endangered species.
Antle came to fame on the hit-Netflix show Tiger King which followed the life of Joe Exotic, an animal park owner who is now serving a 21-year prison sentence for trying to hire two different men to kill animal welfare activist Carol Baskin.
The court found that Antle hid payments for animals as ‘donations’ to his nonprofit organisation, The Rare Species Fund.
As well as his nonprofit, Antle runs Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina.
Doc Antle pleaded guilty to animal trafficking and money laundering on Monday
He oversaw the sale or purchase of cheetah, lion and tiger cubs as well as a baby chimpanzee
Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim said: ‘The defendant held himself out as a conservationist, yet repeatedly violated laws protecting endangered animals and then tried to cover up those violations.’
Antle faces a maximum of five years’ imprisonment, fines up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release for each count.
Investigators also found evidence that Antle and a co-conspirator had also used money made through the transportation and harbouring of illegal immigrants.
A jury in June cleared Antle of five counts of animal cruelty, while the judge in that case dismissed four more animal cruelty charges he faced and all charges against his two daughters.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
