A former University of Hawaii basketball player has been indicted in a massive tax fraud scheme in California.

Seth Sundberg, 34, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in San Jose on charges of filing a false 2008 tax return, mail fraud and false claims against the United States.

He is accused of falsely claiming to have paid $5.7 million in tax under “;original issue discount”; income. As a result, Sundberg received a check from the Internal Revenue Service in May for $5 million.

Sundberg, a 7-foot-2 center on the UH basketball team from 1995 to 1997, ended his UH basketball career with a lacerated spleen. In his last season he averaged a team-leading 7.9 rebounds per game and won a captain's award.

Sundberg, of San Mateo, Calif., is being held without bail and faces 18 years in prison and $600,000 in fines. Levies have been placed on his bank accounts, but court documents do not show all of the $5 million has been recovered.

Sundberg was branch manager for Access Mortgage and Financial in San Mateo and the principal for Sound Mountain Investments, a consulting company, according to court documents.

Tax investigators received a tip about Sundberg based on a prison conversation overheard in June. An inmate and the inmate's father were discussing Sundberg's need to move money out from under his name.

Court documents show Sundberg was involved with others in what appears to be a nationwide tax fraud ring that involved filing dozens of potentially fraudulent 2008 tax forms in Atlanta and Nashville, Tenn.

Sundberg will appear in court on Wednesday.