Despite tougher enforcement, turning San Francisco apartments into Airbnb units remains highly lucrative. Two landlords reaped more than $700,000 in profits during 11 months of illegal rentals, despite an injunction barring them from the practice, according to a motion filed Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court.

San Francisco originally acted against the landlords, Darren and Valerie Lee, several years ago when it discovered that they had evicted tenants and then turned a two-unit property into short-term rentals, court documents show. In May 2015, the couple paid $276,000 in penalties and fees and agreed to an injunction forbidding them from offering illegal short-term rentals.

But the Lees almost immediately ignored the injunction and in fact made a mockery of it, according to the new motion filed by City Attorney Dennis Herrera. The couple took “far-reaching, devious” steps to continue their illegal rentals, engaging friends and relatives as surrogates to list 14 apartments on Airbnb, the motion said. It seeks to fine the Lees $5.5 million, force them to abide by the original injunction, and add three years to it, making its end date 2023.

“This couple broke the law, got caught, pledged to stop, and then turned around and did it again — only this time with an elaborate ruse to try to hide their tracks,” Herrera said in a statement, saying the Lees’ “deceit, fraud and greed is breathtaking.”

The couple engaged in this illicit practice for at least 11 months after the injunction, the motion said, though their 14 properties no longer appear on Airbnb or other sites catering to tourists. While the couple originally listed on both Airbnb and HomeAway/VRBO, the current complaint mentions only Airbnb. The vacation-rental company is not accused of wrongdoing.

The Lees’ attorney, John C. Brown III, said the motion “relies on many inaccurate facts.”

San Francisco has struggled with tourist rentals in private homes since Airbnb took off in its hometown. The city now has strict new laws requiring anyone offering short-term rentals to register, proving they are a permanent resident. Under a legal settlement, Airbnb and rival HomeAway/VRBO kicked off thousands of unregistered rentals this year.

Airbnb said in a statement that it has “zero tolerance for bad actors” and pointed to its agreement with San Francisco to remove unregistered hosts.

The Lees’ case encapsulates arguments made by housing advocates: Renting to tourists is so profitable that landlords are willing to flout the law to do so, which erodes the city’s supply of permanent housing. It also underscores difficulties in catching scofflaws before the city gained new enforcement powers. Herrera said the investigation required “scouring reams of records, exhaustive legal practice, and plenty of shoe-leather detective work” by his staff and the city’s Office of Short-Term Rentals.

The Lees’ efforts to evade detection, as detailed in the motion, are straight out of the Pink Panther playbook. Valerie Lee and her attorney took city inspectors on a tour of eight properties, all arranged to appear as if a tenant lived there, the motion said.

But each apartment had identical staging: “the same Costco food items scattered about, the same arrangement of dirty breakfast dishes in every kitchen sink, same personal products in each bathroom, same damp towels artfully draped over doors as though someone had recently showered, the same collection of shoes and clothes in closets, and same houseplants in each apartment,” the motion said.

The apartments matched photos on Airbnb listings, down to the furniture, light fixtures and appliances.

The Lees submitted faux leases, pretending that they had long-term tenants who were doing the illegal short-term rentals, although the “tenants” were actually their friends, relatives and employees, the complaint said. All but one of the surrogate Airbnb accounts were created from the same IP address.

The units are scattered around the city, including in Pacific Heights, Nob Hill, Leavenworth, the Mission and North of the Panhandle.

Many are swank, renting for around $250 to $500 a night. For instance, one described as an “exquisitely renovated home, in prime Pacific Heights” rented for $395 to $595 a night, with a three-night minimum, according to Herrera’s 2014 complaint.

Between May 2015 and February 2016, the 14 apartments were booked by Airbnb travelers 533 times for 2,271 nights, at a total rent of $922,812, of which $703,000 went to the Lees and their surrogates. (The rest presumably was Airbnb’s commission.)

Before the original injunction was issued, according to the motion, the Lees evicted tenants, including a disabled person, from two rent-controlled apartments they soon rented to tourists, citing the Ellis Act, the state law that allows owners who are leaving the rentals business to evict renters.

San Francisco is seeking a hefty penalty to make sure other landlords understand that the city will come after them.

“Let this send a message loud and clear to those looking to illegally profit off our city’s housing crisis: Don’t try it,” Herrera said. “We will catch you, and you will pay a steep price. We will make sure that it’s not worth it.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid