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Limo Arrives, But Pardon Doesn't For Joe Exotic

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Joe Exotic

Despite his hope to be pardoned by outgoing President Donald Trump, former private Oklahoma zoo owner Joseph Maldonado-Passage, commonly known as “Joe Exotic,” will remain in prison.

On Tuesday night, somewhere near the federal prison medical center at Fort Worth, Texas, a stretch truck limo was ready and waiting for Joe Exotic to be released following a pardon by Trump. But when the pardons came, the Tiger King’s name was not on the list.

President Joe Biden’s inauguration marks the end of a saga that began in April, when then-President Trump said he’d “take a look at” a pardon for Joe Exotic.

A 257-page request followed in September, and in November, news broke that his representatives had run up a $10,000 tab at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. in a bid for Trump’s attention.

With Trump out of office, Joe Exotic will continue to serve a 22-year sentence for animal trafficking, murder-for-hire, and violations of the Endangered Species Act.

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