Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced Wednesday that his office has against Gast Monuments and its principals, claiming the headstone and memorial producer misled and deceived customers into paying thousands for orders that came late or never at all.

"Gast Monuments' long history as a family-operated local business attracted customers who trusted the company's decades of experience to provide services during what is often a very emotional time for families," Raoul said in a news release. "It is unacceptable that many of these trusting customers were exploited and never received the burial monuments they paid for or refunds for work that was never completed. My Consumer Fraud Bureau will continue to work to hold businesses that intentionally take advantage of Illinois consumers accountable." 

Gast Monuments was founded by the Gast family in the 1880s, and was located at 1900 W. Peterson Ave. in the Chicago's West Ridge neighborhood. The company provided burial monuments, grave markers, memorials, and headstones — and specialized in designing and selling custom memorials and adding inscriptions to existing ones, the attorney general's office noted.

CBS News Chicago has reported extensively on Gast Monuments, after several families said the company never delivered the headstones for which they paid.

The Archdiocese of Chicago also accused Gast of not paying the required fees necessary for installing monuments.

In August of 2024, Gast Monuments went out of business.

Raoul said his office has received complaints from 130 Gast customers who paid for services that were never provided. Collectively, they paid about $660,000.

At least 70 of those customers paid in full for memorials for themselves or their loved ones, and are out $200,000 altogether, the attorney general's office said.

Raoul's lawsuit seeks to get restitution for everyone impacted, and to ban Gast's owners from ever offering burial services in the future.