Carole Baskin Sued By Missing Ex- Husband Don Lewis’s Family & Former Assistant For Defamation

The infamous star of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness Carole Baskin is now being sued  for defamation by the family of her ex-husband, Don Lewis, who has been missing for 23 years. The suit names both the Big Cat Rescue CEO and her current husband as defendants.

On a commercial that aired during a break of Baskin’s debut performance on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, the Lewis Family, consisting of Donna Pettis, Lynda Sanchez and Gale Rathbone, as well as their late father’s assistant, Anne McQueen, were joined by their attorney and issued a plea for any information regarding their father’s disappearance. Since then, the family has filed a lawsuit with an amended against Baskin for defamation, citing the allegations Baskin reportedly made against McQueen on her website bigcatrescue.org as well as YouTube video diary. Both public entries accused McQueen of embezzlement and even having a hand in Lewis’ disappearance.

The specific entry on Baskin’s website reads, “Anne McQueen is referred to as Don’s trusted assistant. A few months before his disappearance, we caught her embezzling roughly $600,000 in properties by buying them with our funds and putting them in her name. A court ordered her to return them. Not the best sign of integrity, credibility, someone to believe. Conservatorship case #97-CP-002001” and later adding, “See this letter where Joe Fritz talks about Anne being the owner of a $1,250,000.00 life insurance policy on Don Lewis and about complying with the court’s order that she return the money and properties she was still holding.”

The lawsuit itself includes a bill of discovery that will allow the plaintiffs to acquire more information about the defendants, potentially information regarding Lewis’ disappearance, before the filing of the civil complaint. Specifically, the bill “will be useful to identify potential defendants and theories of liability and to obtain information necessary for meeting a condition precedent to filing suit.”