BREAKING: Tiger King Star Indicted On Trafficking And Laundering Charges!

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A federal grand jury in Florence has indicted Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, one of the stars of “Tiger King,” on charges of wildlife trafficking and money laundering after he was arrested earlier this month.

Federal prosecutors in South Carolina revealed on Thursday that Antle was charged with buying or selling endangered lemurs, cheetahs, and a chimpanzee without the proper paperwork.

The U.S. Endangered Species Act requires permission to buy or move any endangered species in captivity and prosecutors said Antle, two of his employees, and owners of safari tours in Texas and California all broke the law.

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 for the money that passed through their hands.

Four other individuals were also charged:

  • Andrew Jon Sawyer, a.k.a. Omar Sawyer, 52, of Myrtle Beach;
  • Meredith Bybee, a.k.a. Moksha Bybee, 51, of Myrtle Beach;
  • Charles Sammut, 61, of Salinas, California; and
  • Jason Clay, 42, of Franklin, Texas

More details of this report from the ‘South Carolina Public Radio’ report:

Charles Sammut, the operator of Vision Quest Ranch in Salians, California, exchanged two red ruffed lemurs with Antle in June 2018, federal prosecutors said.

The allegations in the indictments are “littered with misinformation,” Sammut told The Associated Press by phone Thursday.

Sammut said he wouldn’t specify what was wrong because he had a criminal case now pending, but added he felt the problems “would be cleared up soon.”

Antle was also charged with exchanging a chimpanzee with Franklin Drive Through Safari in Franklin, Texas. Owner Jason Clay didn’t return a phone message and a lawyer was not listed in court records.

Sammut, 61, and Clay, 42, are each charged with wildlife trafficking and violating the Endangered Species Act. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison.

Court documents said Antle, 62, and Myrtle Beach Safari employee Meredith Bybee also bought or sold two young cheetahs, although details about who else was involved in the alleged transaction were not in the federal indictments.

Antle’s lawyers did not respond to an email Thursday and court records didn’t list a lawyer for Bybee, 51.

Antle and another employee, Andrew Jon Sawyer, 52, were charged earlier in June with money laundering.

Prosecutors said the men wrote $505,000 worth of checks that were supposed to be for construction work at Myrtle Beach Safari but in reality were payments to help smuggle people from Mexico into the United States.

Antle tried to hide the scheme by inflating tourist numbers at his 50-acre (20-hectare) wildlife tropical preserve, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also said he had previously used bulk cash receipts to purchase animals for which he could not use checks.

Animal rights advocates long have accused Antle of mistreating lions and other wildlife. He was indicted in Virginia in 2020 on animal cruelty and wildlife trafficking charges.

In Virginia, Antle is facing two felony counts of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to wildlife trafficking charges, as well as 13 misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act and animal cruelty charges tied to trafficking lion cubs. Those charges are scheduled to go to trial next month.

Antle has a history of recorded violations, going as far back as 1989, when he was fined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for abandoning deer and peacocks at his zoo in Virginia. Over the years, he has more than 35 USDA violations for mistreating animals.

Sources: Breaking911, Southcarolinapublicradio

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