Joe Exotic's used his Netflix royalties to deal drugs behind bars

Joe Exotic used royalties from Netflix series Tiger King to deal DRUGS in prison – despite claiming he was fighting cancer, his ex-attorney claims

• Attorney Francisco Hernandez’s law office claimed in a damning 147-page court filing that Joe Exotic, 59,  used Netflix money for drugs 
• Joe, legally named Joseph Maldonado-Passage, had directed Hernandez to make ‘cloaked payments for drug transactions in the prison’ 
• Hernandez found out in September 2021 after Maldonado-Passage got caught with a burner phone and admitted to him what he was using the money for
• Insiders said the star ran a drug scam inside the prison by sending cloaked payments to criminals, who would then smuggle the drugs into the facilities 
• It is unclear how much Maldonado-Passage was made for the hit Netflix series  

Joe Exotic’s former attorney claimed the star unknowingly made him use Netflix royalties to buy drugs in a prison deal. 

Attorney Francisco Hernandez’s law office admitted in a damning 147-page court filing that Joe Exotic, legally named Joseph Maldonado-Passage, 59, had directed Hernandez to make ‘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 court documents, obtained by The Sun, said. 

‘Mr. Hernandez only learned of the true nature of these payments in September 2021, when Mr. Maldonado-Passage was caught in prison with a burner phone and admitted the practice to Mr. Hernandez.’ 

Attorney Francisco Hernandez’s law office admitted in a damning 147-page court filing that Joe Exotic, legally named Joseph Maldonado-Passage, 59, had directed Hernandez to make ‘cloaked payments for drug transactions in the prison’ 

Insiders said Maldonado-Passage ran a drug scam inside the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth by sending cloaked payments to criminals, who would then smuggle the drugs into the facilities

Insiders said Maldonado-Passage ran a drug scam inside the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth by sending cloaked payments to criminals, who would then smuggle the drugs into the facilities, according to The Sun. 

Hernandez said in the court document that he had email proof of the Tiger King star ‘directing Mr. Hernandez to use funds’ for drugs. 

 Maldonado-Passage has previously tried to get Hernandez disbarred. 

It is unclear how much the tiger handler made off the hit Netflix show.

In June, Maldonado-Passage made waves again after he  took to Instagram in a now-deleted post to reveal his love had decided to end his romance with him, after John Graham was released from federal prison in Texas. 

Maldonado-Passage had recently broke up with his prison boyfriend John Graham. John and Maldonado-Passage fell in love after they met in February 2021 while both were serving prison time at FMC Forth Worth in Texas

But harboring no ill-feelings, Maldonado-Passage revealed that he had decided to patch things up with his ex, Seth Posey, saying that he had always stood by him, despite never meeting 

Graham and Maldonado-Passage fell in love after they met in February 2021 while both were serving prison time at FMC Forth Worth in Texas. 

But harboring no ill-feelings, Maldonado-Passage revealed that he had decided to patch things up with his ex, Seth Posey, saying that he had always stood by him.

Maldonado-Passage had first revealed he was in a relationship with Seth during an interview in Tiger King 2 but they parted ways in November before getting back together.

He described his then-lover as a ‘drop f**king dead gorgeous’ man living in Arkansas.

Maldonado-Passage added at the time; ‘I’ve never met Seth, but we talk 15 times a day, and we have a pretty strong connection.’

It’s quite the turnaround for Maldonado-Passage, who had been busy planning a wedding to Graham.

Back in April, he ordered custom $11,500 all-white tuxedos for himself and Graham ahead of their prison wedding.

According to TMZ, he had tapped Odain Watson of the brand Odaingerous to design the tuxedos, which were going to be handcrafted in Italy.

The media outlet reported that each tuxedo will feature a custom silk tiger print lining.

The process of creating the tuxedos was set to take about four to six weeks.

But as Odain wasn’t able to take the incarcerated television personality’s measurements in person, he was using a model of similar weight and height.

The news came after another one of Joe Exotic’s exes Dillon Passage filed for a prenuptial agreement in May in his ongoing divorce from from Maldonado-Passage.

However, an attorney for the Tiger King personality said she believed it had been filed under fraudulent circumstances.

Exotic’s attorney Autumn Blackledge told TMZ that the zookeeper never signed an official document in the agreement, which would separate the assets each party brought in before and after the marriage.

Blackledge told the outlet she believes Passage filed the prenup in an effort to stretch out the divorce proceedings to capitalize off of his former relationship with Exotic who filed for the split in March.

Blackledge said Passage has sold many of Exotic’s belongings during his imprisonment, and has yet to visit Exotic while he’s in custody.

Blackledge said that Passage has profited more than $1 million from Tiger King following its 2020 debut and the notoriety it gained. 

Maldonado-Passage currently in prison serving a reduced sentence of 21 years following his conviction for trying to hire two different men to kill animal welfare activist Carole Baskin. 

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