A Chinese business owner pleaded guilty Thursday to being the mastermind behind a brutal, multi-million dollar wildlife smuggling conspiracy in which 30 rhinoceros horns and objects made from rhino horns and elephant ivory were smuggled from the United States to China.

Zhifei Li, a 29-year-old owner of an antique business in China, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark to a total of 11 counts: one count of conspiracy to smuggle and violate the Lacey Act; seven counts of smuggling; one count of illegal wildlife trafficking in violation of the Lacey Act; and two counts of making false wildlife documents, according to an announcement by federal officials. Li admitted he sold 30 smuggled, raw rhinoceros horns worth approximately $3 million—approximately $17,500 per pound—to factories in China where raw rhinoceros horns are carved into fake antiques known as Zuo Jiu (which means "to make it as old" in Mandarin.)

In China, there is a centuries-old tradition of drinking from an intricately carved "libation cup" made from a rhinoceros horn, according to officials. Owning or drinking from such a cup is believed by some to bring good health, and true antiques are highly prized by collectors and their escalating value has resulted in an increased demand for rhinoceros horn that has helped fuel a thriving black market, including recently carved fake antiques, federal officials said Thursday. Li's smuggling ring was operated with the help of connections in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere in the United States, as well as abroad.

New Jersey sea and air ports serve as a major hub of international commerce and play an important role in curbing the escalation of illegal trafficking trade, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman "The brutality of animal poaching, wherever it occurs, feeds the demand of a multibillion-dollar illegal international market," Fishman said. "Zhifei Li's conviction is a warning to those who would be lured by the profits of dealing in cruelty."

Li was arrested in Florida in January on federal charges shortly after arriving in the country, according to officials.

Before he was arrested, he purchased two endangered black rhinoceros horns from an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent in a Miami Beach hotel room for $59,000 while attending an antique show. Li was arrested as part of "Operation Crash," a nationwide effort led by the USFWS and the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute those involved in the black market trade of rhinoceros horns and other protected species.

The plea agreement requires Li to forfeit $3.5 million in proceeds as well as several Asian artifacts. The maximum potential penalty is 10 years for each of the smuggling counts and five years for each of the other offenses, as well as a $250,000 fine per count, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, according to Fishman.