The town of Glenrock, Wyoming, and its Mayor Bruce Roumell are among 15 entities and people listed in a $350 million lawsuit Virginia-based bank Eastern Point Trust Co. (EPTC) launched this month.
The lawsuit stems from a private investigation which examined the activities of Colorado-based Flatirons Bank. Both banks are involved in establishing accounts that distribute payments from lawsuit settlements, known as Qualified Settlement Funds (QSF).
Establishing a QSF requires the support of either a governmental entity, such as a city or town, or a court.
EPTC in its lawsuit claims a group of its former clients conspired to create their own QSF platform for Flatirons Bank based on EPTC’s proprietary software. That group, with which Roumell is accused in the lawsuit of collaborating, went by the name Justice Escrow.
EPTC claims that by using its platform, the clients had agreed to its terms of use which state users may not reveal trade secrets about its platform. It claims the clients violated this when they became involved with Flatirons’ QSF program.
“Moreover, the entire arrangement between Glenrock and Flatirons is suspect because it does not appear from any records reviewed by Eastern Point that Mayor Roumell obtained approval from the town’s Board of Directors, as required under Wyoming law, prior to engaging Glenrock in a contractual relationship with Flatirons,” the complaint reads.
Glenrock’s attorney, Amy Iberlin, conversely, said this lawsuit amounts to spontaneous, ill-founded bullying by an out-of-state company.
“Eastern Point Trust Company is a Virginia company coming into Wyoming, bullying people, threatening people, saying they’re going to threaten all these people and basically ruin their lives and take their firstborn children if they don’t stop these qualified settlement agreements,” Iberlin said.
The lawsuit is seeking $350 million from those named. The town of Glenrock is projected to generate $10.4 million overall from general fund revenues from July 1, 2025-June 30, 2026, according to its fiscal year 2025-2026 budget.
Legal Investigation
Attorney Caleb Wilkins of Cheyenne-based Coal Creek Law is representing EPTC in the case. He told Cowboy State Daily EPTC is a “pioneer” in its industry by offering its services to municipalities.
“They have a rigorous audit process and, by all accounts, they really do seem to try and do it the right way and go the extra mile and have been rewarded for their diligence,” Wilkins told Cowboy State Daily.
Wilkins said EPTC contacted him about one year ago with concerns its intellectual property was being stolen through a relationship between Flatirons and Lovell, Wyoming. Through a series of public records requests and the assistance of a private investigator, Wilkins said he determined such concerns had “some meat on the bone.”
While the Lovell deal fell through in February, further investigation revealed Flatirons was in talks with Evansville, Casper and Glenrock, Wilkins said. He said each of these cities were represented by Iberlin, which prompted public records requests to learn the extent of the cities’ involvement with Flatirons.
“Answers were not necessarily timely nor complete,” Wilkins said of the responses to his requests. “Even a disinterested observer could very well reach the conclusion that the [response] was intended to make it look like Glenrock was not doing business with Flatirons.”
Through this process, Wilkins said he discovered that Justice Escrow was using documents and workflows which were identical to the ones used by EPTC. These materials even had EPTC bank account numbers and branding on them, which he said gives validity to the intellectual property theft concerns.
“From what we can tell, there was an agreement in emails between the town, Flatirons and Amy [Iberlin] that more or less said that for each approved QSF, the town would be paid $100 and Amy’s firm would be paid $50,” he said.
Wilkins said these findings make him confident EPTC will be vindicated in court.
“I certainly feel that it’s a good faith complaint,” he said. “It appears to have all the merits there in writing.”
Baseless Bullying
Iberlin, who is also named in the complaint, said she has represented Glenrock for several years. Iberlin said she only recently became aware of the opportunity to participate in the QSF program when she was approached by a member of Flatirons Bank.
“I didn’t even know what the hell a QSF meant until July of this year,” she told Cowboy State Daily via phone. “As a result of that conversation, I put the people in touch that needed to be in touch with my town’s people.”
Iberlin denied having any further involvement in the situation, other than facilitating a meeting of the two parties. She said she was confused when she received a letter from EPTC demanding she provide them with documents and materials in connection to the lawsuit.
“I couldn’t even articulate what the claims were against me,” she said. “I called the lawyer that I know down in Cheyenne, Caleb Wilkins, and got on a call with Eastern Point Trust the following week and Caleb and asked them to explain what we did wrong.”
“They basically told me ‘hey, (f***) you if you can’t basically read English, goodbye,’” she said. “Eastern Point Trust Company is just mad because they made a better product, Flatirons made a better product.”
She accused EPTC of “bullying people” with its lawsuit which is intended to help maintain hold of its business in Wyoming.
“I can certainly tell you that Bruce Roumell and the town of Glenrock would never do anything wrong and I would never advise them to do anything wrong,” she said.
Glenrock and Roumell sent a statement, via Iberlin, in response to a Cowboy State Daily request for comment. That response described EPTC’s complaint as “baseless.”
“This legal action is a transparent attempt to intimidate a small Wyoming community, its elected leadership, and its legal counsel through baseless accusations and the threat of expensive, cross-country litigation,” it reads. “We will not be bullied, and we will not be silenced.
“This lawsuit is an affront not only to the Town of Glenrock and its representatives but to the principles of fair competition and innovation that drive our economy. EPTC may believe its corporate power and Virginia-based lawyers can bully a small Wyoming town into submission, but they are sorely mistaken,” it reads.
Flatirons Response
Flatirons in September launched a lawsuit against EPTC, accusing it of anticompetitive practice. The company wrote in a press release it views Justice Escrow as a solution to the flawed system maintained by companies like EPTC.
“We built Justice Escrow because the existing system was broken. It was opaque accounting, too many middlemen, and far too much room for delay, risk, and error,” Managing Director of Justice Banking at Flatirons Bank Chris White wrote.
Wilkins told Cowboy State Daily he plans on answering that complaint shortly.
Jackson Walker can be reached at walker@cowboystatedaily.com.
