Tiger King's Doc Antle charged with money laundering

Tiger King star Bhagavan "Doc" Antle has been charged with laundering more than half a million dollars.

Prosecutors say Antle believed the money came from a scheme to smuggle people into the US from Mexico.

Charges were also announced against Andrew Jon Sawyer, one of Mr Antle's employees at Myrtle Beach Safari, during a federal court hearing in South Carolina.

The pair each face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

Mr Antle was a prominent character in Tiger King, a Netflix docu-series that followed the rivalry between eccentric Oklahoma zoo owner Joe Exotic and animal rights activist Carole Baskin.

The show became a cultural phenomenon in March 2020, fuelled partly by viewers in pandemic-enforced lockdowns.

According to federal prosecutors, Mr Antle and Mr Sawyer laundered $505,000 (£403,000) over a four-month period by doling out cheques from their companies, the Associated Press reports.

They allegedly took a 15% fee of the money that passed through their hands.

Prosecutors say the cheques falsely claimed to be payment for construction work at Myrtle Beach Safari but were intended to serve as evidence that the recipients had legitimate income.

The Tiger King star planned to hide the cash he received by exaggerating tourist numbers at his reserve, according to the complaint disclosed in court.

This is just the latest in a long line of legal troubles for Mr Antle.

He is facing charges of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to traffic wildlife, as well as 13 counts of conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act and animal cruelty charges related to trafficking lion cubs.