The owner of a company that sells carved fishhooks and other Hawaiian-themed souvenirs admitted in federal court Thursday that he smuggled walrus ivory into and out of the country and imported black coral without a permit.

Curtis P. Wilmington, 64, owner, president, treasurer and director of Hawaiian Accessories Inc., pleaded guilty on behalf of his company and himself to a single conspiracy count. He faces a maximum five-year prison term at sentencing in June. His company faces a maximum $500,000 fine.

Wilmington’s daughter Kaiulani Wilmington, the company’s general manager, and Elmer Biscocho, an independent contractor, are scheduled to plead guilty next week.

Curtis P. Wilmington told U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright that he purchased walrus tusks and sperm whale teeth from a person in Alaska. The person turned out to be an undercover federal agent.

The U.S. Endangered Species and Marine Mammal Protection acts restrict or prohibit the trafficking of walrus ivory and whale bone and teeth.

Wilmington said he knew it was illegal to traffic the walrus tusks and whale teeth. “I was just cutting corners,” Wilmington said. “I just made a bad error.”

He said he sent the tusks, hidden among pieces of koa wood, to a company in the Philippines owned by Biscocho, where they were carved into fishhooks. He then had the fishhooks and wood carvings sent back to Oahu where he sold them in his stores as “Made in Hawaii” products. He also admitted to illegally importing black coral carvings from Mexico without government approval.

For sentencing purposes the government contends that the value of the raw ivory and whale teeth and the carved fishhooks and the black coral is $104,897.

In exchange for the guilty plea, the government promised to drop other charges against Wilmington and his company. Those charges include smuggling, trafficking wildlife products, and false labeling.

The government says Hawaiian Accessories sold the fishhooks for $250 each at its retail outlets in Ala Moana Center, the Outrigger Reef Hotel, the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach and the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort &Spa. The company also sold wholesale packages and supplies to other businesses, including Walmart and gift shops at Aulani, a Disney Resort &Spa.

U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service inspectors, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials and law enforcement and Homeland Security officers raided Hawaiian Accessories’ Iwilei warehouse on May 20. They seized 166 walrus ivory carvings, one walrus tusk, 40 black coral carvings, 78 carved black coral jewelry items, some black coral beads, 90 elephant and related animal ivory carvings, 38 whale bone carvings, 16 unknown mammal bone and ivory carvings, and two sperm whale teeth.

Wilmington and the government are negotiating an agreement for the forfeiture of at least some of the items seized in the raid. The government has until the end of the month to file a complaint.