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A Crystal Lake company that once ranked among the top manufacturers of architectural trim used on some of Chicago's most significant buildings lies in ruins after a cash crunch precipitated a disastrous attempt to sell out to a Canadian competitor.
Earlier this month, the owner of now-defunct Crescent Corp. filed a $20-million federal antitrust and racketeering lawsuit alleging that Indal Ltd. of Ontario, Canada, deliberately drove his company to ruin. The company ceased operations last fall.
Owner John Wegman would collect treble damages under provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute if he prevails against Indal.
The suit, filed March 12 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District in Rockford, names 17 defendants in all -- including Indal's corporate parent, London-based Rio Tinto-Zinc Corp. PLC, five Indal operating companies, 10 corporate officers and a California-based attorney.
Privately held Crescent, whose current assets its attorney values at $9 million, supplied the curtain wall -- decorative, non-structural interior and exterior metal "skin" -- for such notable buildings here as One First National Plaza, Sears Tower, One Magnificent Mile, One IBM Plaza, CNA Plaza, Olympia Centre and the new Northwestern University Law School library. Out-of-town projects include Procter & Gamble Co.'s Cincinnati headquarters and Frito-Lay Inc.'s Dallas headquarters.
Says David Campbell, Mr. Wegman's St. Louis-based attorney:...