Two New York lawyers, an 81-year-old real estate broker, and several Yemeni expatriates are charged with smuggling more than $5 million worth of checks out of the country in recent years, according to an indictment unsealed yesterday in Brooklyn.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, announced more than a dozen arrests yesterday in connection with both the check smuggling scheme and a related loan business that allegedly used extortive means to ensure payments.

Citing the difficulties inherent in tracking the movement of money beyond American borders, authorities said it is unclear where the $5.05 million allegedly smuggled to Yemen over a two-year period had ended up.

“Nobody is alleging any terrorism connection,” a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Marc Raimondi, said.

He did not rule out the possibility, however, that the money had become linked abroad with those who are “motivated by ideology and hate.”

The indictment alleges that the two lawyers and the real estate broker sent checks from their Chase and Citibank checking accounts as part of an unlicensed money transmitting business.

The checks were sent on to Yemen without the necessary filing of reports required of international transfers worth more than $10,000, according to the indictment. In some instances the checks were carried by airline passengers or shipped through Federal Express, the indictment claims.

Prosecutors also allege a second scheme perpetrated by some of the same defendants in which a number of Yemeni expatriates and one of the lawyers took immigration documents or passports as collateral for cash loans.

In all, 14 names were listed in the indictment, although Mr. Raimondi said one of the men was dead and another in Yemen. Several men were arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn yesterday in connection to the two schemes.

Some of the suspects were apprehended north of New York City at a number of delis in Newburgh, a news report said.

All but one of the defendants were released on bond. His attorney, Gerald McMahon, expressed concerned that fears of terrorism might overshadow the facts of the case.

“Just the mere fact that they are sending money back leads people to believe it’s terrorist-related rather than that they are sending money to a mother or father,” Mr. McMahon said. The lawyer also said that the indictment failed to show any connection between his client and the overseas destination of his money.

Prosecutors are seeking a forfeiture of $7 million from the defendants, according to the indictment. Defendants alleged of involvement in the extortion loan scheme face 20-year prison sentences. Defendants accused in the check smuggling scheme face prison sentences of five to 10 years if convicted.