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Breakers’ Lawsuits Say TikTok Banned Them, Then Pointed Them to Fanatics

By jili tutorial · October 3, 2026

Breakers’ Lawsuits Say TikTok Banned Them, Then Pointed Them to Fanatics

Overview of the Allegations

Three sports memorabilia sellers have filed antitrust lawsuits against TikTok and Fanatics, alleging that TikTok deliberately banned their accounts for trademark and gambling violations—and then pressured them to sign exclusive agreements with Fanatics to regain access. The sellers claim that even after signing those agreements, their accounts remained banned, leaving them with massive inventory losses. This pattern, described in detail in three separate complaints filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, raises serious questions about potential collusion between the social media platform and the sports collectibles giant. None of the allegations have been tested in court.

What Are Card Breakers and Why Are They on TikTok Shop?

Card breakers are livestream sellers who open sealed packs of trading cards or sell autographed memorabilia in real time. Buyers pay for a “spot” in the break, hoping to pull valuable cards or items. TikTok Shop allowed these sellers to reach massive audiences, with some earning hundreds of thousands of dollars per month.

The business model is simple but lucrative: a breaker streams a live event, opens packs, and ships the items to the buyers who purchased spots. TikTok’s algorithm and built-in e-commerce tools made it an ideal platform for this high-engagement, impulse-purchase format. However, the platform also began cracking down on card breaks due to concerns about gambling—since buyers pay for a chance at a valuable item without knowing what they’ll get—and trademark infringement, as many products feature logos of professional sports leagues like the NFL.

The Three Lawsuits: A Closer Look at the Sellers

MVP Breaks (Arizona)

According to a lawsuit filed in September 2025, MVP Breaks was one of the top sports memorabilia sellers on TikTok, boasting “one of the top three (3) follower counts on TikTok for sports memorabilia.” By August 2025, the seller was generating approximately $475,000 per month selling autographed NFL helmets and card breaks. After receiving repeated account “strikes” for “purported trademark and intellectual property infringement as well as alleged gambling,” its monthly revenue plummeted to $283,000 by September 2025. TikTok then permanently banned the account.

Quad City Breaks (Minnesota)

David Skalsky operated Quad City Breaks through his company QCBripNship LLC in Chisholm, Minnesota. At its peak, he was “making as much as $200,000 per month” and had moved his family into a new home, according to his July 2025 complaint. After the account was banned, Skalsky’s LLC was discharged in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which he attributes to the actions of TikTok and Fanatics. Courthouse News first reported on this filing.

Dorm Dudes (Ohio)

Founded by Ashland University student Zach Balo, Dorm Dudes reported approximately $3.2 million in sales in the fourth quarter of 2024. Ashland University had previously noted that the business passed $3 million in sales in its first year. The company’s September 2025 complaint details similar strikes and a subsequent ban.

All three sellers allege that their accounts were hit with trademark infringement violations—Dorm Dudes attached a TikTok violation notice citing “trademark infringement” and specifically mentioning the “Green Bay Packers.” MVP Breaks also faced “alleged gambling” strikes, though the seller claims it “followed TikTok’s own published gambling policies.” The complaints do not specify who made the gambling allegations against them.

The Alleged Bait-and-Switch: TikTok and Fanatics

The central accusation in all three lawsuits is that TikTok employees steered the banned sellers toward signing exclusive agreements with Fanatics as the only path to reinstatement. The sellers name Steve Halupka, described as TikTok Shop’s US Sports Collectibles Team Lead, as the key contact.

What the Text Messages Show

MVP Breaks alleges that on or about October 28, 2025, Halupka and another TikTok representative, Nick Bouris, suggested the owner contact “someone named Ethan Cole to sign with Fanatics.” When asked why, Halupka replied that “they [Ethan] are helping facilitate the connection between authentic products and liaison between seller and Fanatics.” According to the complaint, Halupka blamed the NFL for reporting the account, and Bouris wrote, “NFL wields a big, heavy sword.” Halupka added, “Fanatics is acting on behalf of the NFL because of their licensed rights.”

David Skalsky of Quad City Breaks describes a similar conversation. He says texts with Halupka blamed the bans on “the NFL flagging” the account and indicated that signing an exclusive contract with Fanatics would lead to reinstatement.

The Role of Third-Party Consultants

Both Skalsky and Dorm Dudes also name Sean Ceruti of SnL Consulting, a third-party consultant to breakers. Skalsky says Ceruti told him he would “coordinate with Mr. Halupka at TikTok” to reinstate the account if Skalsky signed with Fanatics. Dorm Dudes alleges that SnL Consulting warned in early 2025 that continuing to sell helmets from rival supplier The Real Autograph would result in a “permanent ban.” An August 2025 text from SnL’s Larry Legend warned against selling any memorabilia not sourced from Fanatics. The complaint further claims that Halupka, Ceruti, and Legend led Dorm Dudes to believe Fanatics was “the only licensed option” for full-size NFL helmets—despite the fact that Riddell holds the NFL’s exclusive helmet license. Additionally, Dorm Dudes alleges that Ceruti and Legend were “owners or stakeholders in L2 Global LLC, an authorized distributor of Fanatics products.”

Did Signing With Fanatics Work? Two Breakers Say No

According to the lawsuits, MVP Breaks signed the Fanatics Memorabilia Seller Agreement on November 25, 2025, in hopes of saving its TikTok Shop channel. A copy of the agreement is attached to the complaint. However, “the MVP Breaks channel was never reinstated.”

Skalsky makes the same claim: “Despite signing the exclusive contract, Plaintiff’s account continued to be banned.” He says he was left with tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of inventory that he could no longer sell because the contract limited him to Fanatics products, such as Under Wraps helmets.

Dorm Dudes says it agreed through its consultants to buy and sell only Fanatics helmets, including Under Wraps NFL helmets, after being told this was a condition of offering NFL-licensed products on TikTok. The company paid “an inflated price of $625/helmet” and was left with more than $1 million in inventory from another supplier that it could not sell.

MVP Breaks did manage to rebuild under a new entity, MVP Memorabilia Breaks, which averages about $300,000 per month. That channel has since been “shadow banned” several times, including receiving violations on September 8, 2026, for “Inappropriate Sexual Activity” while the hosts were discussing the Los Angeles Chargers.

Fanatics Denies the Exclusivity Requirement

In court, Fanatics has disputed these accusations. In a March 23 letter filed in an earlier case brought by GFC & Supply, Fanatics lawyer Lawrence Buterman of Latham & Watkins wrote that “nothing in that agreement imposes a requirement on breakers to exclusively sell Fanatics products on TikTok.” The letter also stated that Fanatics had no record of any signed agreement or sales with that particular plaintiff. GFC voluntarily dismissed its case on August 14, according to the court docket.

TikTok’s own policies allow for enforcement actions against sellers that violate its rules or fail to meet performance standards. Measures can include removing or freezing listings, restricting account features, reducing shop or product visibility, and limiting the ability to take new orders. Its intellectual property policy also permits suspension or termination of accounts. Since July, TikTok’s advertising policy has allowed approved prediction-market and event-contract ads in 17 markets, including the U.S. and the U.K., provided advertisers obtain permission and comply with age-targeting requirements.

Broader Context: The NFL, Fanatics, and Gambling Concerns

Fanatics has deep ties to the NFL, both in collectibles and betting. Its Topps brand became the exclusive trading-card licensee of the NFL and the NFL Players Association in April. In August, the league added Fanatics to DraftKings and FanDuel as one of its official betting operators. The lawsuits come amid growing scrutiny of TikTok Shop’s tightening rules on card breaks, separate legal claims that card breaks constitute illegal lotteries, and wider concerns about the “gamblification” of American life.

Attorney Jeremy Shafer represents the GFC, Quad City Breaks, Dorm Dudes, and MVP Breaks in their suits. A fifth breaker, Bigfoot Sports Breaks, sued TikTok and Fanatics entities on September 11; the full complaint was not publicly available at the time of reporting. TikTok, Fanatics, the NFL, and Shafer did not respond to requests for comment from Gambling Insider by the time of publication. The courts have yet to rule on any of the allegations.

What This Means for Sellers and the Platform

These cases highlight the high-stakes environment of TikTok Shop’s sports memorabilia market. For small sellers, a single strike—whether justified or not—can destroy a business that took years to build. The alleged coordinated push toward Fanatics raises antitrust concerns, hinting at a possible attempt to monopolize the secondary market for licensed NFL merchandise on the platform. If the sellers’ claims are proven, it could lead to significant regulatory action against both TikTok and Fanatics, and reshape how livestream commerce works with licensed goods.

For now, the breakers remain banned, the inventory sits unsold, and the lawsuits move forward.