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ST. LOUIS — A former co-owner of a Clayton construction company was sentenced Thursday to 1½ years in federal prison for avoiding minority contractor requirements on a project that received city tax breaks.

Brian Kowert, 72, the former chief operating officer and project manager at HBD Construction Inc., admitted earlier this year to falsifying documents that claimed a project to build new headquarters for home and wellness product distributor Greater Goods complied with city tax break requirements to use a certain number of subcontractors owned by racial minorities or women.

Kowert’s fraud caused Greater Goods to lose out on nearly $40,000 a year in city tax incentives, and officials from the city’s economic development arm said in a letter that Kowert’s actions eroded public trust and hurt minority-owned firms that the program was designed to encourage.

“Mr. Kowert must be held accountable for his actions,� said Neal Richardson, the CEO of the St. Louis Development Corporation. “The social and economic injury his behavior has caused must not be understated.�

Kowert and his attorney, Joel Schwartz, argued that Kowert’s actions were part of a larger problem with a “flawed� incentive program that doesn’t achieve its goals. Still, Kowert said he took responsibility for his actions and wrote a restitution check to Greater Goods for nearly $330,000.

“I should not have done it,� he said. “I did not need to do it.�

Kowert was indicted in March 2022 with five counts of wire fraud. He pleaded guilty in January to two of those counts and admitted to hiring three non-minority subcontractors to supply custom cabinets, appliances, doors and stairs for the Greater Goods project and then submitted false reports showing the work had been done and materials obtained by a certified minority-owned firm.

To conceal the scheme, he transferred roughly $220,000 to the minority-owned firm, which then paid the actual subcontractors. The firm received $2,000 from Kowert for being the “pass-through,� prosecutors said.

On Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith asked Judge Henry Autrey to sentence Kowert to 27 to 33 months in prison as outlined in federal sentencing guidelines.

“Pure racism — that’s what this is about,� said Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith on Thursday. “And that is what this program was set up to repair.�

Schwartz asked for a deviation from the sentencing range for a year and a day or some kind of probation. He said many firms in the city have been credited with using minority-owned subcontractors on projects but only used them to order supplies or perform minimal work, and Kowert said he worked hard in his career to foster more qualified minority-owned firms and tradesmen. He even won awards and accolades for his efforts, he said.

“To say I am entirely a criminal is baloney,� Kowert said.

But Judge Autrey said it wasn’t his job to weigh the past in considering his sentence. Instead, Autrey had to consider the criminal conduct to which Kowert pleaded guilty.

The program was designed to correct racial inequities, Autrey said, and Kowert took advantage of it.

“You have, at least in part, used the good feeling you have about yourself ... to shield the dark part of your heart to allow you to engage in what you engaged in,� he said.