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ST. LOUIS — A roofing contractor is suing prominent apartment developers Victor Alston and Sid Chakraverty, alleging the brothers did not pay for emergency repairs following the deadly May tornado.

Instead, Amigo Roofing and Contracting filed last week that Alston, Chakraverty and their construction arm, Big Sur Construction, kept the insurance money “for their own personal use and enjoyment.�

The St. Peters-based contractor said the developer signed three separate agreements for emergency work at its Chelsea, Hudson and other Pershing Avenue apartments on May 18, just two days after a tornado killed five people and barreled down a nearly 23-mile path from Clayton through the Metro East.

Amigo Roofing said the developers never paid and owe more than $517,000 for the work.

On Wednesday, an attorney for Alston and Chakraverty called the lawsuit “absolutely meritless� and said an engineering report given to the contractor showed “defective and non-code complying repair work.�

Michael Wilson, the attorney, added that the insurance company did not authorize Amigo Roofing to perform “permanent repairs.�   

“My clients take their commitments seriously. But they won’t tolerate pressure tactics in response to a contractor’s failure to properly perform,� Wilson said. 

The brothers last year — along with their accountant Shijing “Poppy� Cao — were indicted for allegedly lying about the use of minority contractors to obtain city property tax breaks. The trio have pleaded not guilty.

Through their development company, Lux Living, Alson and Chakraverty were prolific apartment builders throughout the St. Louis region and recently had expanded to Kansas City and Denver.

Their indictments followed an 18-month federal investigation aided by officials in the city’s economic development agency, St. Louis Development Corp., who had grown suspicious of Alston and Chakraverty’s claims about minority hiring and frustrated over their moves to stymie other city developments they saw as rivals.

Last month, Chakraverty hired the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as his new lawyer.

Brad Bondi has asked the court to dismiss the federal wire fraud charges against them, arguing the city’s minority hiring law is unconstitutional.