Rhino Smuggling Kingpin Sentenced to 70 Months in Prison

NEWARK, N.J. – Zhifei Li, the ringleader of an international rhino smuggling conspiracy, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for his crimes, which included smuggling 30 rhinoceros horns and other protected species worth over $4.5 million from the United States to China.

Li, 30, of Shandong, China, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of wildlife trafficking-related charges, including conspiracy, smuggling, and making false wildlife documents. He was arrested in Florida in January 2013 and was part of a nationwide effort led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to investigate and prosecute those involved in the black market trade of rhinoceros horns and other protected species.

“Li was the ringleader of a criminal enterprise that spanned the globe and profited from an illegal trade that is pushing endangered animals toward extinction,” said Sam Hirsch, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “As this case clearly demonstrates, rhino trafficking is increasingly organized, well financed, and a threat to the rule of law. The United States is resolved to bring wildlife traffickers to justice.”

Li’s crimes were part of a larger scheme to smuggle rhinoceros horns and other protected species from the United States to China, where they were sold for millions of dollars. He was aided by several accomplices, including Qiang Wang, aka “Jeffrey Wang,” who was sentenced to 37 months in prison in December 2013.

“The multibillion-dollar illegal wildlife market is supplied by animal poaching of unthinkable brutality and fed by those willing to profit from such cruelty,” said U.S. Attorney Fishman. “Zhifei Li appropriately faces 70 months in prison for orchestrating schemes worth millions of dollars and for violating laws meant to protect the most vulnerable species.”

Rhinoceros populations are being slaughtered at alarming rates due to the greed and indifference of criminals like Li and his accomplices. The sentence handed down today serves notice to other organized trafficking and poaching rings that their crimes will not go unpunished.

Li’s sentence is one of the longest ever imposed in the United States for a wildlife smuggling offense. His crimes have sent a clear message that wildlife trafficking will not be tolerated in the United States.

The case against Li was led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.