An Orange County federal grand jury returned a two-count criminal indictment Wednesday accusing Newport Beach financier Danny Pang of evading currency reporting laws.

The indictment accuses Pang of structuring hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash transactions in 2007 to avoid scrutiny from the federal government. The charges are similar to allegations that federal prosecutors filed against Pang in April.

The indictment comes as Pang faces an SEC lawsuit accusing him of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from investors — primarily Taiwanese banks — in his Irvine-based Private Equity Management Group. At the request of the SEC, a federal judge has frozen Pang’s assets and placed a receiver in charge of the company. Pang, who is free on bail, has denied wrongdoing.

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