Fraud charges dropped against luxury KC developers with link to AG Pam Bondi
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri has dropped federal fraud charges against three St. Louis developers who also have prominent apartment complex projects still under construction in Kansas City — Katz on Main, 3948 Main St., and the Wonderland apartments, 1923 Broadway Blvd.
The defendants are the top executives with the firm Lux Living in St. Louis: Sidarth “Sid” Chakraverty, Victor Alston and the company’s chief accountant, Shijing “Poppy” Cao. In September 2024, they were indicated on one count each of conspiracy to commit fraud and 11 counts of wire fraud in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
The reversal on Wednesday comes less than two months after Chakraverty came to be represented in July by new counsel, Bradley J. Bondi, the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
It also comes less than one month after Thomas C. Albus, appointed by President Donald Trump, was sworn in as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri on August 1.
The federal charges were dropped on the basis that the incentive programs the developers allegedly cheated were unconstitutional to begin with because of their focus on minority- and woman-owned businesses. In his second term, the president has prioritized ending federal support for programs the administration deems tied to race-, gender- or sex-based diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
The original indictment alleged that Chakraverty and his co-defendants had aimed to defraud the City of St. Louis’s minority-owned business enterprise program (MBE) and its women-owned business enterprise program (WBE) out of city sales tax and property tax incentives.
But on Wednesday, Albus filed a motion to dismiss the indictment because, he argued, the orginial indictment claimed that the defendants engaged in misconduct related to the city’s DBE, or disadvantaged business enterprise program. Such race- and sex-based programs, he argued, are unconstitutional.
“The Department of Justice,” Albus wrote, “has determined that the government programs that use race- and sex-based presumptions like the DBE program are unconstitutional and thus the Department will no longer defend them against constitutional challenges.
“Additionally, the City of St. Louis itself has recently suspended awarding contracts with race- and sex-based goals pursuant to its DBE program due to these same constitutional concerns.”
The U.S. Attorney wrote that, given these factors, “it is prudent for the government to end this criminal prosecution.”
Reporting by ABC News notes that the dimissal of charges against the Lux Living executives marks the second time in a month that the Department of Justice has abruptly dropped charges against a client represented by the brother of the U.S. Attorney General.
Earlier this month federal prosecutors in Florida also dropped charges against Carolina Amnesty, which was represented by Bradley Bondi. The company faced charges related to COVID relief fraud.
In Kansas City, Lux Living is building the 190-unit Katz on Main luxury apartment complex, located at the intersection of Main Street and Westport Road. The project includes integrating the historic facade of the Katz Drug Store and its Moderne-style clock tower into the entrance of the complex.
After the indictment last year, progress on the project slowed to the point where little to nothing was done on the historic facade for a year. Legal cliams for unpaid bills accumulated. The company currently faces about $1 million in claims for unpaid bills. The historic Katz facade currently remains an empty shell.
But in January, Katz on Main apartments received a temporary certificate of occupancy. Many apartments are complete. Some 40 residents have so far moved in to the complex where a one-bedroom leases for $2,000.
A Lux Living representative said it expects the historic facade, which will include a rooftop pool, to be complete by early 2026.
Lux Living is also in the final stages of construction of the 215-unit Wonderland apartment at 1923 Broadway Blvd.
This story was originally published August 29, 2025 at 12:20 PM.
