A federal grand jury has indicted a Kaua'i man on charges that he defrauded an elderly Louisiana woman out of her life savings last year.

Andrew L. Lichtenberg was charged with one count each of mail fraud, wire fraud and providing false information on a passport application.

He is accused of acting on the woman's behalf and selling property on Kaua'i for $373,000 and then depositing the proceeds in his bank accounts.

The woman, identified in the indictment as "E.H.," said that she suffers from a medical condition and that the money from the property sale represented her life savings.

Lichtenberg advertised himself as a lawyer, although his status is listed with the Hawai'i State Bar Association as "suspended," the indictment says. E.H. hired Lichtenberg in July 2004 to sell her interest in the property that she co-owned with another person, the indictment said.

The woman instructed Lichtenberg to deposit the proceeds from the sale into her Louisiana bank account and told him that "no way do I want my money in your account at all — under any circumstances," the indictment said.

In September 2004, E.H. learned that the sale had taken place, but she had received no money. According to the indictment, Lichtenberg devised the following scheme: In the summer of 2004, Lichtenberg told a local escrow company to forward the proceeds from the sale to a trust account he set up for his business.

At the time, the account had a balance of $20. Lichtenberg then bought cashier's checks totaling $200,000 and transferred half to a local bank account and the rest to a bank in Indonesia.

He also withdrew funds from the trust account until it had a balance of $504.

In addition to the proceeds from the property sale, Lichtenberg charged E.H. $1,800 in legal fees, the indictment said.

The Pacific Daily News on Guam reported last month that Lichtenberg was arrested in Indonesia after he was denied entry into that country.

He was taken to Guam, where he appeared before a U.S. district judge, and was then scheduled to be returned to Hawai'i, the newspaper reported.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.