Ferdinand E. Marcos was indicted yesterday in a racketeering case that includes charges that he embezzled more than $100 million from the Philippine Government and used the money to buy three buildings in New York City.
The indictment, filed by a Federal grand jury in Manhattan, also charged the former Philippine President with fraudulently borrowing $165 million from American banks to refinance the buildings and buy additional property.
The main racketeering charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Indicted with Mr. Marcos were his wife, Imelda, and eight associates, including Adnan M. Khashoggi, a Saudi businessman and arms dealer. Oct. 31 Arraignment
The Marcoses were ordered to appear for arraignment on Oct. 31 in Federal District Court in Manhattan, said Rudolph W. Giuliani, the United States Attorney in Manhattan. If they disobey the order, he said, they will be arrested ''like anyone else.''
A lawyer for the Marcoses in Honolulu said the couple would surrender in New York by Oct. 31 and plead not guilty to the indictments. [ Page 4. ] Mr. Marcos, who is living with his wife in Hawaii, was President of the Philippines for 20 years until he fled into exile in February 1986.
Under the Federal racketeering law, the Marcoses can be charged in the United States with criminal activities that took place while they were in the Philippines because the indictment charges that the activities were part of a ''pattern of racketeering'' that continued after they came to this country. 'A Pattern of Racketeering'
The indictment describes the embezzlement in the Philippines as part of an overall racketeering scheme, but it cites 10 racketeering acts, most of them involving purchases of property and transfers of money, that all took place in the United States, both before and after the Marcoses left the Philippines.
Mr. Giuliani stressed that the indictment accused the Marcoses of continuing criminal conduct after coming to this country. That was an ''important factor'' in the decision to indict them, he said. But he declined to speculate about whether they would have been indicted if the accusations were limited to conduct before they came.
John J. Tigue Jr., a New York lawyer for the Marcoses, said they would plead not guilty to the criminal charges and would ''vigorously contest them.'' He added, ''President and Mrs. Marcos are obviously deeply disappointed at President Reagan's failure to prevent this treatment of a longstanding ally.''
Mr. Reagan, who had urged Mr. Marcos to leave office for exile in the United States, was troubled about prosecuting him, according to officials in Washington. Mr. Reagan said on Thursday that he would not block the prosecution if the Admininistration determined that it was a legal matter rather than a foreign policy issue.
A lawyer for Mr. Khashoggi, Robert G. Morvillo, issued a statement that his client ''vehemently denied that he knowingly violated any United States law in connection with any dealings he had with Mr. and Mrs. Marcos.''
At a Manhattan news conference announcing the indictment, Mr. Giuliani said he believed that Mr. Marcos was the highest former official of a foreign government ever indicted in this country.
James Fox, head of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said the Marcoses had ''used their positions of trust to turn the Philippine treasury into their personal treasure.''
Under the Federal racketeering law, Mr. Giuliani said, the Government will seek to confiscate more than $250 million of Marcos assets, including four large buildings purportedly purchased with illegally obtained and fraudulently concealed funds.
