{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://patryan.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-pat-ryan-demands-ftc-investigation-collectors-holdings-attempt", "CONGRESSMAN PAT RYAN DEMANDS FTC INVESTIGATION INTO COLLECTORS HOLDINGS\u2019 ATTEMPT TO MONOPOLIZE TRADING CARD GRADING", "2025-12-19", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "House", "NY", "Patrick Ryan", "R000579", "patryan.house.gov", "patryan", "https://patryan.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Through acquisitions of PSA (2021), SGC (February 2024), and now Beckett (announced December 2025), Collectors has consolidated over 80% of grading volume, leaving only one significant independent competitor\n\nCollectors\u2019 dominance is compounded by vertical integration; it controls grading capacity, pricing analytics through CardLadder, and participates in buying and selling graded cards\u2014creating severe conflicts of interest\n\nWASHINGTON, DC \u2013 Today, Congressman Pat Ryan wrote to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Andrew N. Ferguson, demanding an antitrust investigation into Collector Holdings\u2019 monopolistic practices. Through acquisitions of PSA (2021), SGC (February 2024), and now Beckett (announced December 2025), Collectors has consolidated over 80% of grading volume, leaving only one independent competitor Collectors\u2019 dominance is compounded by vertical integration; it controls grading capacity, pricing analytics through CardLadder, and participates in buying and selling graded cards\u2014creating severe conflicts of interest.\n\n\u201cEven my four and six year old boys, who just started their collections, know this behavior is wrong. Attempts to corner the trading card market are not only deeply unpopular, they are unethical,\" said Congressman Pat Ryan. \"Kids, collectors and local card stores, shouldn\u2019t have to worry that the system is stacked against them, and the FTC needs to step in before this hobby is controlled by one powerful company.\u201d\n\nInvestigatory Questions\n\nThe Commission should investigate:\n\nMonopolization: Whether Collectors acquired SGC and Beckett specifically to eliminate competition, and whether internal documents reveal a deliberate strategy of monopolization.\n\nSerial Acquisition Pattern: Whether Collectors\u2019 systematic roll-up strategy violates Section 5 of the FTC Act as conduct that inherently produces the cumulative harms the antitrust laws were designed to prevent.\n\nRegulatory Evasion: Whether Coll\u0113ct\u012bvus Holdings functioned as a pass-through entity to evade merger scrutiny, and the extent of Collectors\u2019 involvement in the 2024 acquisition of Beckett.\n\nGood-Faith Representations: Whether the post-acquisition marginalization of SGC was contrary to representations made at the time of the merger, and if those actions warrant a court-ordered divestiture or unwinding of the deal.\n\nErosion of Competition: How the elimination of independent rivals has directly impacted consumer pricing, service quality, and turnaround times across the industry.\n\nPrice and Policy Coordination: What safeguards, if any, prevent Collectors from coordinating pricing, grading standards, and competitive behavior across its three nominally \"independent\" brands.\n\nBarriers to Entry: What structural barriers now prevent new competitors from entering the market, specifically regarding the control of the limited labor pool of professional graders.\n\nMarket Manipulation: How vertical integration \u2014 controlling the grading process, the pricing data through CardLadder, and the marketplace itself \u2014 creates unique opportunities for market manipulation and unfair self-dealing.\n\nRead Congressman Ryan\u2019s full letter here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://patryan.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-pat-ryan-demands-ftc-investigation-collectors-holdings-attempt"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.900176052004099, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}