A Chinese company fraudulently exported huge amounts of aluminum to Southern California and then orchestrated bogus sales to deceive investors, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed this week.

Federal prosecutors said the company, China Zhongwang Holdings Limited, devised the scheme to avoid paying $1.8 billion in tariffs that were imposed on certain types of aluminum imports in 2011. The company’s former president and chairman, the Chinese billionaire Liu Zhongtian, is among the people accused of lying to Customs and Border Protection. He and his co-defendants face charges including conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.

The indictment, which was reported by The Wall Street Journal, alleges that the company disguised its shipments as “pallets,” which would be classified as finished goods and not subject to the duties. They were imported through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, stored nearby and purportedly sold to United States-based companies controlled by Mr. Liu.

But prosecutors said the sales were a sham intended to inflate the value of the company, which is publicly traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Mr. Liu, 55, remains a major shareholder, prosecutors said.