Carole Baskin Wins Joe Exotic’s Zoo in Court Ruling
Joe Exotic‘s former zoo G.W. Exotic Animal Park, which is now called Tiger King Park, has been awarded to Carole Baskin in a court ruling.
Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue was successful in proving that Joe Exotic — whose real name is Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage –fraudulently transferred the zoo to his mother Shirley M. Schreibvogel in 2011. The move was an attempt to stop creditors from taking possession of his properties if he had lost the well-documented battle against Big Cat Rescue, which played out in the Tiger King documentary.
The move comes as result of a $1 million USD trademark infringement lawsuit that accused Exotic of using logos and images to promote his zoo that were similar to those of Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue. In 2016, Big Cat Rescue sued Schreibvogel in response to the fraudulent activity.
A court report states that, “Schreibvogel later admitted under oath that the zoo land was transferred to her by Joe Maldonado to remove it from the reach of creditors, including BCR, should BCR win its Florida lawsuit.” In addition to this, “Schreibvogel also admitted in 2015, via a confession of judgment she entered into to resolve a lawsuit filed against he by the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee overseeing Joe Maldonado’s personal bankruptcy estate, that the zoo land was fraudulently transferred to her by Joe Maldonado in 2011 to avoid his creditors.”
Baskin will receive Joe Exotic’s former zoo as well as a number of cars and cabins on the property. However, she will not be awarded the animals inside the zoo, as the judge ordered the current zoo operator to leave within 120 days and remove all property animals.
Joe Exotic is serving 22 years in federal prison for his crimes including trying to hire a hitman to kill Baskin, falsifying animal records, for and violating the Endangered Species Act.
In other news, Forbes is refuting Kylie Jenner’s billionaire status.