Washington, Oct. 21 (AP): A Potomac doctor has been indicted on federal charges of evading more than $16 million in taxes from money he made trading high technology stocks in the late 1990s.

The three-count indictment against Pradeep Srivastava, 46, was unsealed on Monday in a US district court.

Srivastava, a US citizen, faces a possible maximum sentence of five years on each tax evasion count and three years for allegedly filing a false tax return.

Prosecutors say Srivastava made more than $40 million in short-term capital gains during 1998 and 1999 by trading stocks and stock options.

However, he allegedly only reported his losses to the accountant who prepared his tax returns, thereby understating his tax obligation for the two years by roughly $16.3 million.

Srivastava suffered severe losses when the values of his holdings collapsed in 2000 but understated his losses on his 2000 tax return to cover up his earlier earnings, prosecutors claim.

Srivastava is a cardiologist with offices in Greenbelt and Oxon Hill.