The FBI on Tuesday arrested a South Texas doctor and his wife, a San Antonio lawyer, on charges that they secretly sent more than $1.8 million to Iran over nine years with the help of the founder of an Oregon charity, violating the U.S. embargo on the Middle East country.

Dr. Hossein Lahiji, 47, and Najmeh Vahid, 35, were named in a federal indictment last week in Portland, Ore., that alleges the couple received tax exemptions for their donations to the Portland-based Child Foundation.

After a court hearing in San Antonio and their release on unsecured bonds, the Iranian-born pair told the San Antonio Express-News that the indictment is inaccurate.

Lahiji, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen and runs a urologist practice in McAllen, said the indictment places them in certain geographic areas when they were elsewhere. The pair moved to Texas from New Jersey.

“There are a lot of inconsistencies in (the indictment), and we hope to prove our innocence,” added Vahid, who runs her own law practice in San Antonio.

The couple is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Jan. 4 in Portland.

The charity, Child Foundation, and its leader, Mehrdad Yasrebi, struck a plea deal with prosecutors in Oregon to avoid formal indictment. Yasrebi admitted he funneled money that was meant for food and other assistance to his cousin and to a bank controlled by the Iranian government.

Working through Iranian corporations and banks in Switzerland and Dubai, the Texas couple and Yasrebi's cousin are alleged to have masked their transfers by using food shipments and other commodities to cover financial donations intended for a sister charity in Iran run by the cousin.

The indictment charges the Texas couple with conspiring to defraud the government and conspiring to launder money by purporting to transfer charitable donations to Iran while actually keeping control of the money. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison.

Also named in the indictment as a defendant is Ahmad Iranshahi, 53, Yasrebi's cousin and the director of Refah Kudak, a sister charity started in Iran by the two men and other family members in 1999. Iranshahi is not in custody.

According to the indictment, Yasrebi and the Child Foundation transferred $5.4 million between April 2001 and April 2005 to Refah Kudak through a bank account in Switzerland. Some of that money came from Lahiji and Vahid. The money eventually landed in Bank Melli, an arm of the Iranian government, authorities claim.

Prosecutors charge that Yasrebi sought the approval and financial support for the founding of the charity from members of Hezbollah, as well as Iranian diplomats, ayatollahs and other representatives of the Iranian government.

The indictment does not explicitly state any link between the money provided by Vahid and Lahiji and the terrorist group Hezbollah.

According to Child Foundation, it sponsors children in Iran, Indonesia and Afghanistan “in the form of food, medicine, clothing and educational materials, and in some countries, housing and emergency assistance.”

The U.S. has had a trade embargo against Iran since 1995 because it considers the country a state sponsor of terrorism.

In a statement, Child Foundation said, “Our organization is strong and healthy in spite of serious challenges posed by Child Foundation's decision to reach a plea agreement with the U.S. government.

“The charges involve certain actions of our founder that, he admits, did not comply with U.S. law. These problems happened some time ago. Child Foundation's board, which no longer includes our founder, remains committed to the appropriate and lawful delivery of your donations to their intended destination,” the organization said.