Melrose Park steel company that took money for unfinished work now liquidating assets

CHICAGO (WLS) -- As another alleged victim saying American Steel Fabricators owes them thousands of dollars as well, the company is liquidating their assets.

The Melrose Park company is undergoing a "Notice of Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors," a voluntary alternative to formal bankruptcy, which could be used to pay those with claims against them,

Pastor John Zayas spoke to the I-Team after his Grace and Peace Church in North Austin paid American Steel Fabricators almost $157,000 at the beginning of the year for steel to expand their food pantry. Zayas said they received only a small amount of their order.

He had to hire another company and pay an additional $150,000 for steel.

READ MORE: Steel company took nearly $175K to expand North Austin food pantry, but didn't finish work: pastor

Julio Carrasco owns Windy City Steel Services, which was hired by American Steel to work on building a recreation center at the church? Carrasco said American Steel owes his company more than $120,000. If they don't pay up, his business may be forced to shut down.

"It's been a little over a year that we finished the project," Carrasco said. "It's very hard financially it's very hard we minimized our projects maybe 60%."

A recent email to a manager at American Steel bounced back, and their phone number is now disconnected.

American Steel also never responded to the I-Team in October, but an attorney involved in the benefit of creditors proceedings said the company owes more money than it made.

The benefit of creditors letter says in part, "ASF has been a very successful business for most of its existence, but in 2022 the company experienced a decline in business coupled with difficulty in the collection of receivables."

The letter also blames financial hardship on the declining health and then sudden death of the company's chief operating officer in May.

The people in this story said they are filling out the creditors form and making a claim in hopes of getting any money refunded.