‘Tiger King’ Star Doc Antle Charged With Money Laundering In Alleged Human Smuggling Operation

Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, one of the bizarre characters viewers were introduced to in the Netflix series Tiger King, has been charged with laundering over half a million dollars in cash over a four-month period this year along with his business partner Andrew Jon Sawyer.

According to federal prosecutors, the men accrued the hefty sum of cash through “an operation to smuggle” undocumented immigrants into America. He allegedly used his business seen in the show, the safari park Myrtle Beach Safari, as part of his scheme by writing checks for the money through it to attempt to pass it off as legitimate income.

The prosecutor’s s statement noted, “Those checks falsely claimed they were remitted for construction work being performed at Myrtle Beach Safari,” meaning they think Antle and Sawyer wrote the check and acted as if they received it as recompense for unfinished work they paid for.

He was also reportedly caught sharing his plan “to conceal the cash he received by inflating tourist numbers at the Myrtle Beach Safari,” showing he may have gone to great lengths to try and hide his dirty money. He faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty on this charge, and also faces several other counts of wildlife trafficking in relation to the abusive treatment of big cats in his park.

Antle has also been accused of fostering a cult-like environment among the staff of Myrtle Beach Safari. Some former employees even say Antle groomed them into participating in polygamous relationships with him from when they were young teenage park employees.

He is expected to appear in court for his wildlife trafficking trial in July.