Joe Exotic Reportedly Accused Of Dealing Drugs In Prison By Former Lawyer
By Favour Adegoke on September 27, 2022 at 5:00 PM EDT
TV personality Joe Exotic's former lawyer, Francisco Hernandez, recently filed a lawsuit against the "Tiger King" star accusing him of indulging in drug dealing. Exotic, born Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was previously sent to over two decades in prison after being convicted of animal cruelty as well as two near assassination attempts against Carol Baskin.
Exotic and his lawyer went from being friendly to having a legal fight against each other. After accusing the lawyer of mismanaging his case, Exotic reportedly attempted to stop him from ever practicing law again.
In response to exotics actions, Hernandez filed a lawsuit against the 59-year-old accusing him of engaging in illegal drug dealing in prison. The attorney also claimed that the TV personality used him to send out the funds without his knowledge.
Joe Exotic Allegedly Engaged In Drug Dealing
According to a recent lawsuit by Hernandez, Exotic secretly engaged in drug dealing under the guise of fighting cancer. In court documents obtained by The Sun, the attorney claimed that the tv personality confided in him previously after he caught him on a burner phone conducting shady dealings.
The 147-page lawsuit comes on the heels of Exotic's accusations against Hernandez, saying that the lawyer mismanaged his case. The former "Tiger King" star also reportedly tried to have his former lawyer barred from practicing law.
Hernandez addressed Exotic's accusations and went on to say that the 59-year-old made use of his fan donations as well as his Netflix earnings to purchase illicit substances and facilitate drug deals behind bars. The attorney also said that he was used, unknown to him, to send out the money to the suppliers of the items.
He Allegedly Bought Drugs Using His Business Account
Hernandez's court filing read, "Unbeknownst to Mr. Hernandez, some payments that Mr. Maldonado-Passage directed Mr. Hernandez to make [from his account] were cloaked payments for drug transactions in the prison."
"Indeed, Mr. Maldonado-Passage would lie to Mr. Hernandez, referring to the payments as expenses for tiger food, among other descriptions," the filing continued. Exotic reportedly purchased his illicit substances under his "Tiger King" business account (IOLTA). The account makes use of royalty fees culled from a book deal, Netflix footage, fan donations, and music royalties.
According to the lawsuit, Hernandez was unaware of how the drug payments were made until September 2021. The date is just over two years since Exotic started his 2019 trial. The 59-year-old eventually confessed to the lawyer after being found out, and Hernandez reportedly asked that he stop "facilitating the drug payments."
Joe Exotic's Former Lawyer Claims To Have Evidence
Further on in the court filing (per The Sun), Hernandez revealed that he had email evidence of his former client "directing Mr. Hernandez to use funds" needed for the drug acquisition from his "Tiger King" business account.
According to sources, Exotic allegedly kept the illicit drug business alive by ordering that cloaked payments be sent to criminals that were not imprisoned. The felons, in turn, would smuggle the contrabands into the Texas Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Fort Worth. The lawsuit went on to claim that in return, the 59-year-old would be given gifts and protection from the prisoner customers.
The operation reportedly became a bust after the guards found out about Exotic's cell phone, which he used to conduct dealings. The prison administration went on to carry out disciplinary action against the tv personality.
Joe Exotic Was Sentenced To 21 Years
In 2020 Exotic was tried and found guilty of more than a dozen different counts of wildlife crimes. The 59-year-old was also accused and convicted of two counts of employing assassins to kill Baskin, his rival in the business.
Following the verdict, the tv personality was sentenced to 22 years in prison; however, it was reduced to 21 years in January 2022. The judge at the time ruled that the initial trial had made use of "improper sentencing guidelines."
Prior to the alleged assassination attempt and the eventual sentencing, Exotic and Baskin had been on bad terms for decades. Over the years, she had been vocal concerning her adverse views about his park as well as his animal-keeping practices. In 2011, the Big Cat Rescue owner sued and won a lawsuit against the tv personality, which earned her a million dollars in settlement.
