Tiger King star Doc Antle to face cash laundering costs

Federal brokers arrested the controversial wild animal coach Friday and he has been in custody on the J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Conway, South Carolina all through the weekend.

Antle, the proprietor of the Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina, is featured prominently in Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, a 2020 Netflix documentary miniseries that centered on tiger breeders and personal zoo operators within the US. The sequence centered closely on Oklahoma zoo operator Joe Exotic, who additionally was focused for animal mistreatment and was convicted in a plot to kill a rival, Carole Baskin.

The costs in opposition to Antle, 62, have been anticipated to be formally introduced throughout a court docket continuing Monday afternoon in Florence, South Carolina. The costs relate to allegations of cash laundering, an individual acquainted with the matter advised the AP on Saturday. The particular person couldn’t talk about the matter publicly and spoke to AP on situation of anonymity.

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 costs.

In May, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals requested the IRS to probe Antle’s Rare Species Fund, a nonprofit elevating cash for wildlife conservation. PETA alleges he makes use of a few of the fund’s cash to subsidize his safari web site in Socastee outdoors Myrtle Beach.

“It’s fitting 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 just 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 Law Enforcement division, in a press release.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, Antle is dealing with two felony counts of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to wildlife trafficking costs, in addition to 13 misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act and animal cruelty costs tied to trafficking lion cubs. Those costs 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 US Department of Agriculture for abandoning deer and peacocks at his zoo in Virginia. Over the years, he has greater than 35 USDA violations for mistreating animals.