A Rock Falls manufacturing company has filed a lawsuit alleging that one of its owners systematically looted the business of more than $4 million through personal credit card charges, unauthorized cash withdrawals and transfers to his own companies.

Rotary Airlock LLC filed the complaint in Whiteside County Circuit Court on April 13, naming Rocky McGowan of Sterling and his affiliated entities as defendants. The company alleges McGowan exploited his control over the company’s finances to enrich himself at Rotary Airlock’s expense over more than two years.

“Rocky’s conduct was willful, deliberate, and in conscious disregard of Rotary Airlock’s rights,” according to the complaint. “Rocky designed and executed a multiyear scheme in which he used company credit card accounts for personal expenses, systematically withdrew company cash for personal use, fabricated justifications to conceal those withdrawals, caused the company to take on unauthorized debt, and then funneled company funds to entities he personally owns and controls.”

Rocky McGowan owns, manages and controls M5 Industries, a Rock Falls business that engages in engineering, manufacturing, tooling, steel fabrication, real estate ventures, contracting, investments and related activities, according to the lawsuit. He also owns M5 Property Holdings, a Sterling business that operates through affiliated series, or sub-LLCs, including the KYIA Series, Airbnb Series, Central Series, Kaybre Series, Theater Series, Property Holdings Series and M5 Conveying Consulting Series LLC.

McGowan and his companies have not yet filed a formal response to the complaint, according to court records. No criminal charges have been filed against McGowan in connection with the allegations, according to the county’s online court records.

Alleged scheme

Rotary Airlock was founded in 1995, according to its website, and engages in engineering, manufacturing, tooling and steel fabrication. Founded by Chester Hilty, five people purchased the business in June 2021. They include Benjamin Hilty, Timothy Hilty, Matthew Hilty, Kyle Herren and McGowan. McGowan received a two-sixths ownership stake while the others each received one-sixth, according to the complaint.

McGowan exercised “authority and practical control” over the company’s bank accounts and financing operations, according to the complaint. The other owners allege he used that control to systematically divert company assets.

From January 2024 to February 2026, McGowan charged personal expenses to two company credit cards totaling $520,791, the complaint alleges. The charges included personal retail purchases, entertainment and other personal expenses.

McGowan made three partial reimbursements totaling $245,203, leaving $275,588 in unreimbursed personal charges, according to the complaint. The other owners say they were never informed of these charges and never authorized them.

McGowan also is accused of withdrawing $946,805 in company cash for personal purposes between Jan. 1, 2024, and Feb. 27, 2026. The withdrawals paid for personal groceries, food delivery services, hotel stays, medical expenses and casino cash advances, according to the complaint.

“Rocky’s casino cash advances represent a substantial portion of the total and reflect his use of company funds to finance personal gambling activity bearing no relationship to the company’s business,” according to the lawsuit.

When questioned about the withdrawals, McGowan said they related to “internally constructed assets” he created for the company, according to the complaint. The company argues this explanation is false and says the withdrawals consisted of personal groceries, food delivery, hotel stays, and casino cash advances, which cannot constitute business assets for an industrial equipment manufacturer, according to the complaint.

The complaint highlights 42 withdrawals McGowan made payable to himself between August and December 2025, totaling $189,141. These included withdrawals of $28,000 on Aug. 15, 2025; $10,200 on Aug. 11, 2025; and $9,860 on Oct. 14, 2025.

The $946,805 in total cash withdrawals does not overlap with and is separate from the personal credit card charges, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint also alleges that McGowan entered Rotary Airlock into four financing transactions totaling $3,079,263.

McGowan entered each transaction without disclosing it to the other owners or obtaining required authorization as required by the company’s operating agreement, according to the complaint.

The complaint then alleges McGowan transferred $2,953,249 in company funds across 11 transfers to M5 Industries and M5 Property Holdings – entities he owns and controls – between November 2025 and January 2026.

“Rotary Airlock did not make those transfers in the ordinary course of its engineering, manufacturing, tooling, or steel-fabrication business,” the complaint states. “Rotary Airlock received no reasonably equivalent value in exchange for any of those transfers.”

The complaint alleges that the transfers directly injured Rotary Airlock by depleting its cash, increasing its debt burden, impairing its working capital, and diverting company assets to noncompany purposes.

The M5 Transfers do not overlap with the credit card charges or the cash withdrawals described, the complaint states.

The complaint also alleges McGowan caused Rotary Airlock to order and finance a 2025 Ford F-450 pickup truck for the benefit of one of his separately owned businesses rather than for any legitimate company purpose. The vehicle was subsequently repossessed, leaving Rotary Airlock exposed to residual liability, including deficiency balance and repossession costs.

Legal action

Rotary Airlock and the co-owners are suing for conversion, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, aiding and abetting fraud, accounting and imposition of a constructive trust.

The complaint seeks compensatory damages totaling at least $4,175,643, plus damages from the unauthorized financing obligations, F-450 liability and consequential damages. It also seeks punitive damages, prejudgment interest, attorneys’ fees, and a constructive trust over all funds traceable to the unauthorized transfers.

Separately, McGowan faces civil actions filed against him as the owner of M5, which operates as an umbrella company housing multiple smaller businesses. Those businesses focus on roofing, heating, printing and others, and allow M5 to handle all aspects of its own construction projects, McGowan said in an interview with Shaw Local in 2025.

The company’s diverse portfolio of subsidiaries enables it to manage large-scale development without relying on outside contractors, McGowan said when announcing last summer that he had purchased two historic buildings on Sterling’s First Avenue in 2024, a $6 million investment that he had hoped would open in fall 2025.

Those properties include the former Starlight’s Theatre & Lounge at 314 First Ave., which he planned to reopen as the Spark Center for the Performing Arts. Next door, the former Amcore Bank at 302 First Ave. was to become the M5 Professional Building.

Civil actions, including foreclosures, have been filed in recent weeks against M5 Conveying Consultants, M5 Industries, M5 Property Holdings, Rocky McGowan and various other related defendants, including his wife. Among those filings is a commercial real estate foreclosure action filed by Central Bank Illinois on April 7 that includes the former Amcore Bank property at 302 First Ave., Sterling.