NEW YORK – Federal authorities Monday announced criminal charges against former top executives of American Tissue Inc., once one of the nation’s biggest makers of paper tissue, saying the company lied and cheated to keep up the facade of profitability.

Mehdi Gabayzadeh, the former chief executive officer and part owner of American Tissue, was among four ex-executives accused in court papers of swindling banks, financial institutions and investors of nearly $300 million.

A former employee of the public accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP also was arrested for allegedly destroying American Tissue accounting documents.

“A $300 million loss is incredibly significant,” said U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf in Brooklyn of the Hauppauge, N.Y.-based company, which specializes in products such as toilet paper, facial tissue, napkins, towels and paper plates.

American Tissue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 10, 2001.

At the time, American Tissue had 4,200 employees and holdings in 19 states, including Maine. Its Augusta, Maine, mill, which converted waste paper into tissue, closed in 2001.