Michael Maschmeyer was the co-owner of Chicago Roof, Deck and Garden LLC (CRDG) with 42.5% of the interest in the company. Darren Flynn and Tomasz Bartosiewicz owned the remaining 57.5% interest in the company.
Flynn and Maschmeyer had been partners for several landscaping and real estate development businesses in the past. They formed CRDG to provide outdoor living design, construction and landscaping services. All construction work was done by another company owned by Bartosiewicz and CRDG’s captive subcontractor.
Between 2009 and 2014, Maschmeyer deposited more than $1.7 million in checks made payable to CRDG, all for CRDG labor, to his personal bank account and refused to return $850,000 when confronted by Flynn and Bartosiewicz. Instead, Maschmeyer and his wife, Anne, formed Urban Rooftops LLC, a company directly competing with CRDG.