The subject of the hit Netflix documentary was arrested on Friday.
Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, a subject of the hit Netflix documentary Tiger King, has been charged with federal money laundering crimes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The US Attorney's Office of South Carolina issued a press release on Monday announcing that Antle and a co-defendant, Antle's employee and business associate Omar Sawyer, have both "been charged in a federal complaint with money laundering crimes involving more than $500,000."
"The complaint alleges that over the last four months, Antle and Sawyer laundered $505,000 in cash they believed to be the proceeds of an operation to smuggle illegal immigrants across the Mexican border into the United States," the release announced.
The pair are accused of laundering money and then concealing the laundered income by "inflating tourist numbers at the Myrtle Beach Safari."
The duo were arrested on Friday by the Horry County Sheriff's Office following an investigation by the FBI, and are currently detained. Antle and Sawyer face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
Antle was previously indicted on animal cruelty and wildlife trafficking charges by the Grand Jury of Frederick County, Virginia, in October 2020, and was charged with one felony count of wildlife trafficking, one felony count of conspiracy to wildlife traffic, four misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act, and nine misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. His trial for those charges is set to begin in October.
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