A powerful Chinese billionaire has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he evaded nearly $2 billion in tariffs as part of a conspiracy to smuggle massive quantities of aluminum into the U.S.

The indictment, which was reached in May but not unsealed until this week, accuses Liu Zhongtian, founder of Chinese aluminum giant China Zhongwang Holdings Inc., of conspiring to defraud the U.S. through a sprawling scheme spanning the company’s headquarters in Liaoning, China, ports in Los Angeles and a remote desert...