A Baltimore man has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against PSA alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act — a legal approach that has been used against the company before, but arrives at a moment of peak collector frustration with grading backlogs and costs.

Nicholas Funk filed the 188-page complaint on July 29 in the Federal District Court of Maryland. The suit alleges that PSA has built a billion-dollar empire by deceiving card collectors and that its parent company's acquisitions of competitors Beckett and SGC have eliminated meaningful competition in the grading market.

The RICO Allegation

RICO is a federal statute designed to combat patterns of racketeering activity. Funk's complaint argues that PSA's conduct — a combination of alleged deceptive grading practices and anti-competitive behavior — meets that standard. The lawsuit is not the first to take this approach: a 2020 class action, Savoy v. Collectors Universe, also brought RICO claims against PSA's parent company, though that case was ultimately dismissed.

"On the one hand, PSA authenticates cards, assigns grades, issues certification numbers, and publishes population data," the lawsuit reads. "On the other hand, [PSA] participates in the pricing, custody, resale, offers, lending, insurance, financing, liquidity, and marketplace pathways tied to those same cards."

The Wider Context

The filing comes as PSA's grading backlog has reached 12.4 million cards — up from 11 million on July 14, according to the company's own tracker. PSA graded approximately 2.5 million cards in June, a 74% year-over-year increase, driven by continued strong demand across the hobby.

PSA opened a new facility in Plano, Texas this week, around the same time the lawsuit was filed, as part of a $200 million infrastructure investment aimed at addressing capacity constraints. The timing of the filing and the facility opening appears to be coincidental.

The case is pending in the Federal District Court of Maryland. PSA has not yet responded to the allegations.

Sources: WMAR 2 News (July 29, 2026) — confirmed the July 29 filing date, RICO allegations, named plaintiff Nicholas Funk, the block quote from the complaint, and Funk's representation by Eldridge Crandell LLC and Thomas R. Bundy III of Zealous Advocates. Sports Collectors Daily — confirmed the Plano, TX facility opening date. Yahoo Finance/GemRate — confirmed June grading volume of 2.5M cards (74% YoY increase). The 12.4M backlog figure is from PSA's own public tracker.