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Tiger King's Carole Baskin now owns Joe Exotic's zoo

Photo credit: Tiger King - Netflix
Photo credit: Tiger King - Netflix

From Cosmopolitan

We may have binge-watched the whole documentary two months ago, but we're always in the market for a Tiger King update. Most recently, a federal judge gave control of Joe Exotic's zoo to Carole Baskin, in lieu of payment of a $1 million trademark judgment. Wow. That escalated quickly.

Cast your minds back to the hit Netflix documentary, and you might remember Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin were locked in the rivalry of the century, which resulted in Joe serving 22-years in prison for two counts of murder-for-hire and various animal abuse charges.

Photo credit: Tiger King - Netflix
Photo credit: Tiger King - Netflix

And now, Joe has reportedly been forced to hand over his zoo properties to his archnemesis, as part of a $1 million trademark judgment.

Courthouse News reports that Big Cat Rescue owner Carole convinced a U.S. District judge in Oklahoma City that Joe (real name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage) fraudulently transferred the zoo properties to his mother, Shirley M. Schreibvogel, in 2011, as a way of avoiding them becoming part of his long-running legal battle with Carole.

In 2013, Joe was ordered to pay Big Cat Rescue nearly $1 million to resolve a then-2-year-old trademark-infringement lawsuit, which saw him using their logo on his own YouTube videos.

Photo credit: Tiger King - Netflix
Photo credit: Tiger King - Netflix

Florida-based animal sanctuary Big Cat Rescue sued Exotic's mother in 2016 over the property transfer, filing a complaint with stated:

"Schreibvogel [Joe's mum] later admitted under oath that the zoo land was transferred to her by Joe Maldonado to remove it from the reach of creditors, including Big Cat Rescue, should BCR win its Florida lawsuit. 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.”

Not a good day for Joe Exotic.

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