A collector in Arizona is asking a federal court to force PSA's parent company to sell off two of its competitors.

Michael Rasmussen filed a proposed class action on April 14, 2026, in the Central District of California. The case is Rasmussen v. Collectors Holdings, Inc. et al, No. 8:26-cv-00897.

The defendants are Collectors Holdings, its PSA grading arm, SGC, and Beckett (BGS). The complaint alleges Collectors built an illegal grip on card grading by buying the companies that competed with it. It seeks a forced divestiture of both SGC and Beckett, plus damages and fees.

The Section 7 Claim and the Share Math

The suit is brought under Section 7 of the Clayton Act, the statute aimed at acquisitions that lessen competition.

The complaint lays out the timeline. Collectors acquired SGC in February 2024 and Beckett in December 2025.

According to the complaint, before those deals PSA held roughly 72% of the market, CGC about 18%, SGC around 5%, and BGS about 3%. After the acquisitions, the complaint alleges Collectors controls roughly 80% of card grading.

There is a competing read worth putting on the page. In a video breakdown, NEO Cards & Comics argued the acquisitions don't look like a company killing its rivals. By NEO's account, SGC got "boutiqued" after the deal, scaled back rather than absorbed, while Beckett's monthly graded volume actually trended up, roughly 72,000 to 106,000. That's creator analysis, not a court finding, and it cuts against the complaint's theory that competition was extinguished.

We've covered the broader concentration worry before, including the CNBC "junk wax 2.0" Fanatics monopoly framing and the case for a universal grading standard.

The Squeeze Collectors Feel Right Now

The suit lands in the middle of a grading crunch that collectors are living through.

PSA paused its Value Bulk, Value, Value Plus, and Value Max tiers effective June 2, 2026. We covered the move when it happened, including the 10-million-card backlog and the $200M investment that triggered the rush.

PSA cited a roughly 20% submission spike after the investment announcement. It says the tiers reopen when the backlog drops to around 5 million cards, which it projects could take about four months. There is no firm reopen date.

With the value tiers gone, the cheapest open PSA service is Regular at $79.99 per card. For collectors who built around sub-$20 bulk grading, that's the floor now.

Nowhere Cheap to Run

Switching graders doesn't solve the price problem, because the competitors are at capacity too.

TAG closed its Basic ($22), Standard ($39), and Express ($59) tiers. That leaves Priority at $149 and Walkthrough at $299.

CGC turnaround has stretched as well. Its Economy tier was running roughly 50 to 80-plus business days, based on estimates from late May and early June. The point isn't any single number. It's that the affordable lane closed across the board at the same time.

Where It Stands

As of the April coverage, Collectors had not filed a response, and no public statement on the suit was found.

The lawsuit isn't the only pressure on the Beckett deal. Rep. Pat Ryan asked the FTC to investigate the Beckett sale to PSA, in a letter our prior coverage placed in late 2025 to early 2026.

A forced divestiture is a high bar. Section 7 cases that unwind completed acquisitions are hard to win, and a complaint is the start of a fight, not the end of one. Nothing here has been tested in court.

A Note on This Reporting

This article is news reporting on an active legal dispute. Rasmussen v. Collectors Holdings is a proposed class action, and the claims described here reflect the plaintiff's complaint. Every contested claim, including the market-share figures, is attributed to that complaint or to named sources. As of the available coverage, the defendants had not filed a response and no public statement on the suit was found. The NEO Cards & Comics points are creator analysis, not findings of fact. The allegations are unproven, and nothing in this piece is a finding, a legal conclusion, or a prediction of outcome. The matter is developing as of June 11, 2026, and we will update it as the record develops. If you are a party to this dispute and believe something here is inaccurate, contact us and we will review it.

Sources