A pair of federal lawsuits is pulling back the curtain on what plaintiffs claim is a long-running, secretive kickback operation—one that allegedly siphoned off hundreds of millions of dollars meant for class action plaintiffs and handed it quietly to banks and settlement administrators instead.
Filed this week in courts in New York and Florida, the lawsuits accuse three of the most dominant players in the class action world—Epiq Systems, Angeion Group, and JND Legal Administration—of working hand-in-glove with Huntington National Bank and Western Alliance Bank to fix prices and eliminate competition in a market that touches nearly every large-scale lawsuit in the country.
The scheme, according to the filings, was simple and lucrative: class action administrators steered massive settlement deposits to the two banks. In return, the banks allegedly handed back a share of their earnings—an under-the-table profit-splitting arrangement invisible to the plaintiffs whose money funded it.
Together, the accused banks reportedly control over 80% of the class and mass action settlement fund market. The administrators manage more than 65% of the industry’s operational tasks—everything from notifying class members to distributing settlement checks.
And that control, the lawsuits argue, has allowed them to manipulate the system to their advantage—especially after interest rates began to rise in 2021. As returns on deposits grew, so did the alleged backroom deals. Plaintiffs claim administrators pressured banks to cough up slices of interest income or risk losing their favored status.
JND has already dismissed the allegations as “baseless,” promising to fight back in court. Western Alliance described the complaints as inaccurate and vague. Huntington offered no comment. The others have yet to respond publicly.
What’s at stake isn’t just one or two shady contracts—it’s the integrity of the entire class action system. Court-appointed administrators are supposed to act as neutral stewards of justice, making sure victims of corporate wrongdoing receive their share of negotiated settlements. Instead, these lawsuits suggest they may have been quietly redirecting that money to enrich themselves and their banking partners.
The two cases—Whalen v. Epiq Systems in New York and Tejon v. Epiq Systems in Florida—name high-profile litigator David Boies and his firm as counsel for the plaintiffs. But no matter how the legal battle plays out, the implications are already reverberating through an industry that prides itself on fairness and transparency.
Behind the bureaucratic machinery of class action justice, these lawsuits suggest, may be a sprawling, coordinated money machine—one that rewards insiders while leaving the actual victims with less than they were promised.
