A superseding indictment was filed against Ali Amirnazmi, 64, a U.S. and Iranian citizen who lived in Berwyn and operated the Exton-based TranTech Consultants Inc., a business specializing in software for chemical companies, court records said.

Defense attorney Elizabeth K. Ainslie said yesterday that she has not seen the indictment and could not comment.

The new charges allege that Amirnazmi, who has been in federal custody since July 25, used fake tax returns in an effort to secure funds from Wachovia and Penn Liberty banks from December 2006 until May 2008.

A request for a $192,000 Wachovia loan was accompanied by a fabricated 2004 tax return with a reported gross income of $134,907; the form he submitted to the IRS showed income of $12,159, the indictment said.

In seeking a $30,000 line of credit from Penn Liberty, Amirnazmi showed a 2004 tax return with $106,661 as gross income, the indictment said.

Court records show that Amirnazmi's attorney argued last month that her client deserved bail - a position opposed by prosecutors. Judge Cynthia M. Rufe has not yet issued a decision.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen A. Miller disputed Ainslie's contention that Amirnazmi, who has no criminal history, was not a flight risk. Miller cited Amirnazmi's meetings with high-level Iranian officials and his plan to move there.

The charges against Amirnazmi include multiple violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which authorized sanctions against Iran. If convicted, he faces up to 115 years in prison and a $5.5 million fine, according to sentencing guidelines.

Iran has had hostile relations with the United States since Islamic militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held the embassy staff hostage for more than a year.

The original indictment accused Amirnazmi of regularly engaging in business deals with Iranian companies, some of which are run by the Iranian government. On May 20, Amirnazmi attended a meeting in Tehran involving the construction of a chemical plant; about 10 days later, he accepted a 15 percent share of the plant, which he agreed to supply with software, equipment, and chemicals, the indictment said.

On May 28, Amirnazmi signed a $270,000-a-year licensing agreement with another Iranian business, the indictment said.

At an earlier bail hearing, on Aug. 14, U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry S. Perkin called the evidence against Amirnazmi "strong." Perkin denied bail, suggesting that "the defendant's ties to Iran are significant and provide encouragement for him to flee the country."

In a petition appealing that decision, Ainslie said Amirnazmi, a chemical-engineering graduate of Tehran and Stanford Universities, has lived and worked in the Philadelphia region for 28 years. Before starting TranTech Consultants Inc. in 1980, Amirnazmi worked for Bechtel Corp. and Hercules, Inc.

According to TranTech's Web site, the company's clients include Arco, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Rohm & Haas, and those "who do not wish their name to be disclosed."

Amirnazmi told some people that he had considered moving to Iran, but that was only because he thought "business might be more profitable" there, Ainslie's petition said. She also cited Amirnazmi's family ties to Pennsylvania: His wife, Guiti Saber Amirnazmi, has been living in Philadelphia since the couple sold their home on Green Hill Lane in Berwyn, now the subject of a forfeiture action; Amirnazmi's adult daughter is practicing medicine in Pittsburgh.

In response to Ainslie's petition, Miller introduced undated Amirnazmi correspondence involving a prospective business deal.

In one e-mail, Amirnazmi acknowledges ignoring the advice of his company's attorney, who tells him that "acting as an agent of the Iranian government" is illegal.

In another e-mail, Amirnazmi says he does not want Iranians to come to the United States. "What I want is to lead a flow of Iranians back to Iran, and I am sure I will succeed," he wrote.

Miller also entered into evidence a Dec. 28, 2006, letter Amirnazmi wrote to an attorney. It lists multiple reasons why Amirnazmi dislikes America, from a description of President Bush as "the bully and his war machine" to outrage over the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.