Overview

• Bhagavan “Doc” Antle received a 12-month federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to conspiring to violate the Lacey Act and money laundering.
• He was fined $55,000, ordered to forfeit three chimpanzees and over $197,000 in assets, and will serve three years of supervised release.
• Prosecutors showed that Antle used his nonprofit, the Rare Species Fund, to disguise illegal transactions in baby chimpanzees, cheetahs, lions and tigers.
• Court evidence revealed that he laundered more than $500,000 in bulk cash he believed to be proceeds from a human smuggling operation.
• Two co-defendants were recently sentenced in related prosecutions, including private zoo owner Jason Clay’s four-month prison term and Andrew Sawyer’s probation and home detention.