‘Tiger King’ star Doc Antle charged with money laundering
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MEG KINNARD
Associated Press
“Tiger King” star Bhagavan “Doc” Antle has been charged with laundering more than half a million dollars, money federal prosecutors said Monday that he believed to be the proceeds of an operation to smuggle people across the Mexican border into the United States.
Charges against Antle and Andrew Jon Sawyer, one of Antle’s employees at Myrtle Beach Safari, were revealed during a federal court hearing in Florence, South Carolina.
According to federal prosecutors, Antle and Sawyer laundered $505,000 over a four-month period by doling out checks from businesses they controlled, receiving a 15% fee of the money that passed through their hands.
The checks, prosecutors allege, falsely purported to be payment for construction work at Myrtle Beach Safari but were in reality intended to serve as evidence that the recipients had legitimate income.
According to the complaint unsealed in court Monday, Antle discussed his plan to conceal the cash he received by inflating tourist numbers at his 50-acre (20-hectare) wildlife tropical preserve. Prosecutors also said he had previously used bulk cash receipts to purchase animals for which he could not use checks.
Records for the Horry County jail show Antle and Sawyer were both arrested Friday. Attorneys for both men did not immediately comment on the charges when reached via email.
According to authorities, Antle and Sawyer each face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
Antle is featured prominently in “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” a 2020 Netflix documentary miniseries that focused on tiger breeders and private zoo operators in the U.S. The series focused heavily on Oklahoma zoo operator Joe Exotic, who also was targeted for animal mistreatment and was convicted in a plot to kill a rival, Carole Baskin.
