Who is Peter Ticktin? Lawyer with alleged Trump ties joins Joe Exotic's legal battle for a pardon

The Tiger King star Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, has retained a lawyer with ties to former President Donald Trump as he is hoping for a presidential pardon.

Exotic is currently serving a 21-year sentence for a murder-for-hire plot to kill Carole Baskin, owner of a big-cat sanctuary in Tampa, Florida. He has been convicted on two counts of attempted murder for hire and multiple charges of animal cruelty and wildlife violations.

Joe Exotic has hired a new attorney, Peter Ticktin amid his legal battle for a pardon. He is an attorney based in Florida with the Ticktin Law Group. Ticktin is actively preparing to file for a formal pardon and to appeal.

He has a controversial legal background and close ties to Donald Trump. He reportedly attended the New York Military Academy with him. He was suspended from practising law in 2009 after the Florida Supreme Court found that he had engaged in professional misconduct.

Continue to read more for details.

Who is Joe Exotic? All details we know about the former zoo operator

Born in Garden City, Kansas, Joe Exotic is a former zoo operator, media personality, and convicted criminal. He is an actor and director known for Joe Exotic: Here Kitty Kitty (2015), The Life Exotic: Or the Incredible True Story of Joe Schreibvogel and The Exotic Truth - The Tiger King Speaks.

He captivated the world with the 2020 Netflix documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. The series focused on his life focused on his life as an eccentric zookeeper who operated the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma.

In April 2025, Exotic announced his marriage to his new husband, Jorge Flores Maldonado, while they were both incarcerated. Exotic’s partner is serving time for immigration-related offences. He wrote in his since-suspended account on X:

“Never been more proud of someone. Meet my husband, Jorge Flores Maldonado.”

Exotic is currently serving a 21-year prison sentence. He is incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. He was convicted in 2019 on multiple charges, including a murder-for-hire plot to kill his rival, Carole Baskin.

He is also an aspiring singer. While working as a zookeeper, Exotic released two albums titled I Saw a Tiger and Star Struck. However, it has been reported that the music credited to Joe was often sung by other artists. According to Joe’s former producer, Rick Kirkham, he can’t even hold a tune.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Kirkham said:

“It was absolutely ridiculous.”

Recalling one incident from the time when Exotic was intoxicated, he told the outlet:

“One time, Joe got a little bit drunk and high, and we actually coaxed him into singing part of one of the songs. He couldn’t even hold a tune. It was just so ludicrous. It was a big joke within the crew and staff that it wasn’t him, but he was damned insistent to anyone and everyone, including us and my studio crew, that that was him.”

Exotic’s other producer, Romeo Dupuy, told the outlet that Joe Exotic couldn’t even play a guitar, implying that the images of him with the instrument were staged or posed.

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