ST. LOUIS — Interim U.S. Attorney Thomas Albus hand-delivered a $1 million check to City Hall last month on behalf of a pair of 51ºÚÁÏ developers who had been accused by federal prosecutors of fraudulently obtaining property and sales tax breaks through the city’s minority subcontracting program.
Albus, nominated July 30 for U.S. Attorney by President Donald Trump, dropped the fraud charges against Victor Alston and Sid Chakraverty Aug. 27, saying in a brief court filing that they had agreed to repay the tax breaks they had received based on what prosecutors alleged were false documents submitted to the city.
The dismissal contained few details on the amount of restitution, how it was calculated or what tax breaks would be repaid. Nor was there any written agreement detailing the restitution calculation, Albus confirmed, something a former federal prosecutor called “very unusual.â€
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Instead, a check for $1,020,975.54 from Chelsea STL LLC, one of the developers’ companies, was delivered by Albus himself to City Hall on the day the charges were dismissed.
The Department of Justice’s own indictment of the developers from a year ago, however, put the value of the incentives the developers received at more than twice that amount.
The discrepancy between the unpaid taxes and the restitution to the city has again raised questions about the extraordinary decision from the U.S. Attorney’s office to drop federal charges against a client of the Attorney General’s brother, in a month. Brad Bondi, brother of Attorney General Pam Bondi — Albus’s boss — entered the case as a defense lawyer for Chakraverty in July, though the developers have insisted he was part of the legal team since before Trump’s election.
Alderman Michael Browning, of Chakraverty and Alston’s business practices, said the city should be repaid for all the tax breaks it granted.
“It is my hope that the city will pursue this until it is made whole,†Browning said.
Vic Alston, from left, his brother Sid Chakraverty, and accountant Shijing "Poppy" Cao were accused in a federal indictment of falsifying records related to the city’s minority contracting requirements for developers who receive tax incentives. Chakraverty, Alston and Cao were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 11 counts if wire fraud.
Renato Mariotti, a lawyer for Chakraverty, did not respond to questions about the payment, nor did a spokesman for the developers, who run Lux Living and landlords STL CityWide and Asprient Properties.
The developers and their accountant, Poppy Cao, were indicted last September on 11 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They were accused of submitting fraudulent documents, including “sham†checks and purchase orders that falsely inflated their use of minority and women-owned companies to comply with 51ºÚÁÏ rules for developers who accept tax breaks.
Albus, shortly after Trump appointed him as 51ºÚÁÏ’ chief federal prosecutor, personally intervened to drop the fraud charges. His reasoning: the underlying charges were based on compliance with a city program meant to encourage the hiring of minority and women-owned contractors, programs Albus said the Department of Justice no longer believes are constitutional. He also pointed to the city’s July move to pause its program out of fear of Trump administration reprisals.
51ºÚÁÏ has since restarted its minority and woman-owned business program, and there has been no specific court ruling deeming such initiatives unconstitutional.
Albus’s decision came just weeks after the career prosecutor who brought the case, Hal Goldsmith, argued that regardless of the constitutionality of the minority and women-owned contracting programs, the developers were not privileged “to lie, cheat and steal†and could still be prosecuted.
In an interview Tuesday, Albus said he personally intervened in the case to “make it clear†his office wanted to drop the charges.
“The U.S. Attorney has to approve all dismissals of indicted cases anyway, so I thought it was appropriate,†he said.
The $1 million the developers paid was based on a calculation of the value of the unpaid property taxes for the Chelsea property from 2021 through 2024, Albus said, estimates his office obtained from the 51ºÚÁÏ Assessor.
Collector of Revenue Greg Daly’s office, which received the check, initially was unaware how the amount it received was calculated, nor did the U.S. Attorney’s Office offer any formula for the figure when Albus dropped its charges against the developers and delivered their check to the city.
The check was received by the office “without explanation,†collector spokeswoman Susan Ryan said.
“We were not part of the negotiation of this,†she said.
The collector’s office later determined that it corresponded with property tax breaks granted to Chakraverty and Alston’s 152-unit Chelsea apartment building on Pershing Avenue, one of two properties at the center of their 2024 indictment. Assessor Shawn Ordway said the City Counselor’s office had asked it to calculate the value of the property tax abatements for 2021 through 2024.
But the city will not receive any compensation for the more than $1.5 million in sales tax breaks the developers received on that project and another apartment complex they built in Soulard. Federal prosecutors said in their indictment last year the sales tax breaks had been obtained in part due to “false reporting†the developers submitted to comply with the minority and women hiring program, which developers agree to adhere to in exchange for tax breaks.
Paying back the sales tax abatements was not part of the discussion, Albus said, even though his dismissal said the developers had “agreed to make restitution of the taxes abated.†His motion did not specify which tax breaks.
“The information I had was the sales tax abatement was not dependent on the (disadvantaged business enterprise) status, so it wasn’t related to the fraud,†Albus said in an interview Tuesday. “The guidance that I received from the investigative team at the time was that the sales taxes weren’t part of the restitution figure.â€
A spokesman for the 51ºÚÁÏ Development Corporation said sales tax abated projects are required to comply with the disadvantaged business hiring goals, per city ordinance. The Justice Department’s own indictment from a year ago said the same.
Albus said there was no written agreement or memorandum outlining the restitution agreement for the repaid tax breaks.
Not having a written restitution agreement as part of the dismissal is “very unusual,†said Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor in Washington and now a defense attorney who represents clients accused of fraud and other crimes.
And Albus’ unusual delivery to City Hall of a check from two former criminal defendants?
“I wanted to make sure they got it,†he said.
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