ST. LOUIS — Federal prosecutors in St. Louis on Friday unsealed criminal charges against Lux Living principals Vic Alston and Sid Chakraverty, detailing schemes to defraud the city in order to obtain tax breaks on apartment developments.
They, along with in-house accountant Shijing "Poppy" Cao, are charged with 12 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.
The charges weren't altogether surprising; prosecutors last year issued a subpoena to the city's development agency, St. Louis Development Corp., for information related to tax subsidy deals related to The Chelsea, an apartment complex at 5539 Pershing Ave. in Pershing-DeBaliviere, linked to entities co-owned by Alston and Chakraverty. .
The indictment unsealed Friday details schemes at The Chelsea and another Lux-affiliated development, SoHo, 1515 S. Seventh St. in Soulard.
The feds said that in exchange for a sales tax exemption on construction materials and property tax abatement at both sites, the defendants' companies were required, by city ordinance, to accurately report utilization of minority- and women-led firms.
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