Tiger King star jailed for animal trafficking
Antle, 65, was sentenced to one year and one day behind bars and fined $US55,000 ($A85,000) on Tuesday, nearly two years after pleading guilty to trafficking in exotic animals and money laundering.
It was likely the end to the legal dramas that surrounded Tiger King, the Netflix true crime documentary that captivated a country shut down by COVID-19.
The star, Joe Exotic, is serving a 21-year federal prison sentence for trying to hire two different men to kill the other star, Carole Baskin. Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was a collector and private zookeeper from Oklahoma, and Baskin runs Big Cat Rescue in Florida.
Antle appeared in the first season with Exotic and Baskin and was the star of the show's third season.
Prosecutors say Antle bought animals on the black market
Antle's crimes were unrelated. He laundered money used in a human smuggling scheme because he needed large amounts of cash quickly to buy animals like chimpanzees, lions, tigers, cheetahs and other creatures, prosecutor Patrick Duggan said.
These animals are illegal to sell because they are endangered, and their high prices could encourage poachers to steal them from the wild, Duggan explained.
"He was knowingly and illegally trading them as part of a black market that drives another black market of poaching and smuggling," Duggan said in court on Tuesday.
Antle's lawyers requested a sentence of just probation or home confinement, saying their client needed to care for the 150 exotic animals that consume 450kg of meat a day at his Myrtle Beach Safari. They said many of the animals only respond to Antle.
About 25 friends and family packed a federal courtroom in Charleston. Several told Judge Joseph Dawson III that Antle was generous and caring. They said he raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight poaching and preserve wild habitats for tigers, lions and chimpanzees.
The judge was swayed. Federal guidelines called for about two years in prison, to which prosecutors agreed. But Dawson said, although Antle broke federal law, all the evidence pointed to him caring for animals.
Antle apologised at the end of his sentencing hearing for causing problems for his life's work.
"I made a mistake, I did stupid things," Antle said, adding, "I hope I'll be able to pull it back together for everybody."
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