Manhattan prosecutors announced the indictment of a Chinese company and its leader Tuesday for allegedly misusing Manhattan banks as part of a plan to bring nuclear material to Iran.

The 118-count indictment charges Li Fang Wei and his company Limmt of illegally using some of the city's banks to transfer money.

District Attorney Robert Morgenthau says Wei made nearly 60 transactions between November of 2006 and September of 2008, using aliases and bogus accounts to deceive banks.

"Our banks have high standards and sophisticated systems to stop these transactions, but this conduct was specifically designed to defeat their systems," said Morgenthau.

Wei's company supplies metallurgical products, as well as high-strength metal and military material, many of which are banned from export to Iran.

"Li Fang Wei and Limmt used alias names and shell companies to continue Limmt's international business," Morgenthau said. "Li Feung Wei and the company's purpose in doing so was to use fraud and deception to gain access to U.S. financial systems, to deceive U.S. and international authorities, and to continue the proliferation of banned weapons and materials to the Iranian military."

The district attorney says Wei's company was sanctioned in June of 2006 for distributing weapons to Iran.

The company was banned from making transactions through the U.S. financial system, but Morgenthau says it did not stop.

Wei is in China and still at large, but the D.A. will ask Chinese authorities to help apprehend him, and try to have him extradited.

He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.