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ST. LOUIS — A construction firm affiliated with the development and rental companies led by brothers Sid Chakraverty and Vic Alston is threatening to sue another former employee, the latest legal maneuver after federal investigators sought records tied to one of the company’s construction projects.

A lawyer for Chakraverty’s Big Sur Construction, which has built several apartment complexes for multifamily developer Lux Living, in a Dec. 14 letter accused former employee William Powell of breaching both his noncompete and employment agreements by sharing company data and working for a competitor.

In a letter containing a draft lawsuit obtained by the Post-Dispatch Thursday, former federal prosecutor and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner attorney Renato Mariotti threatens legal action against Powell unless he agreed to participate in mediation with Big Sur as required by Powell’s employment agreement.

It’s the second time in a month that Chakraverty and Big Sur have deployed a team of white collar defense attorneys from Bryan Cave, one of the region’s largest law firms, against former employees. Two weeks ago, Big Sur sued former property manager Julie Frady, accusing her of falsely claiming it was engaged in illegal business practices and encouraging other employees to quit.

“This is absolutely an intimidation tactic just like their previous suit filed against another former employee,� said Powell’s attorney, Steven Waterkotte, who focuses “almost exclusively� on criminal defense cases, according to his website.

Alston and Chakraverty’s development firm, Lux Living, and the brothers’ other multifamily rental firms, STL CityWide and Asprient, have faced consistent complaints from tenants over deferred maintenance and mismanagement. In October, the Missouri Real Estate Commission sued STL CityWide for leasing apartments without a broker’s license.

But the brothers’ bigger problem may be a federal probe into their operations. In August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in St. Louis subpoenaed records from a city development agency related to Lux Living’s Chelsea apartment complex, built by Big Sur, north of Forest Park. A former employee said he was interviewed by the FBI.

The threatened lawsuit against Powell, like the one against Frady, appears concerned with what he is telling others about Big Sur’s operations.

Specifically, the draft lawsuit says Powell, while still employed at the company, sometime this year gave “third-party individuals access to the company’s ‘root drive,’ which contained years of confidential and proprietary business information.� The draft petition doesn’t say who those third parties are, but it says the drive included “records, documents, and communications relating to Big Sur Construction’s active apartment building projects, prospective apartment building projects, employees, financials, regulatory compliance, permitting, marketing, leasing, and other operations.�

The draft lawsuit also accuses Powell of violating a noncompete agreement he signed with Big Sur by going to work for another construction firm in the St. Louis area a month after leaving Big Sur. The other firm is in a dispute with Big Sur over a payment that Powell authorized, Big Sur said in its draft lawsuit.

Powell, who the petition says Big Sur hired right out of college to work as a project engineer in July 2021, resigned from Big Sur in July 2023.

The draft petition against Powell includes the names of three Bryan Cave lawyers — Reggie Harris, Ali Olszeski and Aaron Yuratovich — who also are listed as attorneys in the lawsuit against Frady.

Mariotti, who works out of the firm’s Chicago office and is a frequent legal commentator on cable news, signed the demand letter but is not listed on the lawsuits. His experience includes defending clients from “financial-related governmental inquiries, including accounting irregularities� and “whistleblower allegations,� according to his profile.

“I have nothing to say to you,� Mariotti said when reached Thursday.