Plaintiffs Allege Class Action Administrators and Banks Engaged in Kickback Scheme

The legal landscape of class action settlements is being shaken by a lawsuit alleging kickbacks and collusion among key players responsible for managing settlement funds. On February 27, 2026, plaintiffs Donald Coughlan, Marissa Porter, Sandeep Trisal, and Alan Starzinski filed a class action complaint in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against several companies including Angeion Group LLC, Epiq Systems, Inc., JND Legal Administration, Kroll Settlement Administration LLC, Verita Global LLC, Archer Systems LLC, Verus LLC, CPT Group Inc., Simpluris Inc., Huntington National Bank, and Western Alliance Bank.

The plaintiffs accuse these entities—referred to as Administrator Defendants and Bank Defendants—of engaging in deceptive practices that divert settlement funds away from class members through undisclosed kickbacks. The case outlines how these defendants allegedly manipulated the distribution process of settlement funds to benefit themselves financially. According to the complaint, these actions breach fiduciary duties owed to both the courts and class members who rely on fair administration of settlements.

Class action administrators are supposed to manage settlement processes efficiently and transparently. However, this lawsuit claims that instead of acting in the best interests of class members, the defendants engaged in a scheme where banks paid secret kickbacks to administrators. These kickbacks were purportedly offered in exchange for directing settlement deposits to certain banks at lower interest rates than those available from other financial institutions.

Plaintiffs allege that this scheme began around 2021 when interest rates started rising in the United States. They argue that the Administrator Defendants demanded cuts from bank profits derived from holding large sums of settlement money. In return for these payments, administrators reportedly agreed not to seek better terms from competing banks. This collusion allegedly resulted in depressed payouts for thousands of class actions across America.

The plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief to halt these practices and demand compensation for affected class members. They argue that such anticompetitive behavior has significantly reduced potential earnings on settlement funds due to artificially low-interest rates offered by complicit banks.

Representing the plaintiffs are attorneys who have uncovered what they describe as “the epitome of self-dealing” within an industry trusted with billions annually. The case has been assigned Case ID 2:26-cv-02113 with proceedings overseen by judges yet unnamed in initial filings.