'Tiger King' Joe Exotic Hits Feds With $94 Million Lawsuit From Prison
This article contains no real spoilers for the new Netflix docuseries 'Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.'
Joe Exotic just filed a $94 million discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Federal Wildlife Service while he serves time in Grady County Jail in Oklahoma.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, the eccentric, mulleted big cat breeder is suing the feds for alleging launching an anti-gay conspiracy against him.
Exotic, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, claimed he was singled out "because he is the only person charged with this statute because [he] is an openly gay male with the largest collection of generic tigers and crossbreeds."
The 57-year-old convict also accused the feds of stealing his property and “promoting an animal rights agenda.” He thinks the agencies placed the “generic tiger” on the endangered species list to purposely put him out of business.
He is seeking $78,840,000 for loss of property and 18 years worth of work with tigers, plus another $15 million for false arrest, imprisonment, and malicious prosecution, claiming former business partner Jeff Lowe set him up by planting evidence and lying to authorities.
Exotic, who ran for US president in 2016 and once had his own line of condoms called Tiger King, is currently serving a 22-year sentence. He is incarcerated for his role in a 2017 murder-for-hire scheme against his archenemy, Big Cat Rescue's Carole Baskin, in addition to multiple wildlife law violations.
Watch the trailer of Tiger King below.