The lawsuit seeks damages exceeding $80 million.
DALLAS, TX / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / WLES, L.P. ("WLES") announced today that it has filed a Suit in the 191st Judicial District Court of Dallas County, Texas, asserting that Pathward, National Association (formerly MetaBank, National Association) and its executive, Will Sowell, wrongfully terminated a critical processing agreement and intentionally interfered with the processing business of PayNetworx, LLC, a company owned by WLES.
The lawsuit alleges that Pathward and Sowell abruptly and without legitimate justification terminated PayNetworx's ability to process transactions, despite a written commitment from Pathward's own General Counsel guaranteeing PayNetworx 365 days to wind down operations and transition its merchant portfolio per PayNetWorx contract with Pathward. The sudden shutdown froze more than 1.4 million monthly merchant transactions valued at approximately $68 million, inflicting severe damage on PayNetworx and its merchants.
WLES asserts that Defendants knew PayNetworx was in active negotiations with other sponsoring banks to move the portfolio and the abrupt halt of the processing over a holiday week severely harmed it's merchant base and portfolio. The abrupt action was intentionally to destroy PayNetWorx revenue, destabilized the merchant base, and ultimately collapsed the company. Prior to Defendants' actions, PayNetworx had attracted multiple offers valuing the company in excess of $100 million.
According to the petition, Sowell and/or individuals acting at his direction also provided false or misleading information to major card networks, including Visa and Mastercard, resulting in the card networks shutting off the Bank Identification Numbers (BINs) assigned to PayNetworx. This action immediately halted all credit and debit card processing capabilities for PayNetworx's merchants, "catastrophically" damaging the company and wiping out tens of millions of dollars in value for WLES.
"The actions taken by Pathward and Mr. Sowell were reckless, unjustified, and directly contradicted the commitments made by Pathward's own counsel," said Micah Dortch, attorney for WLES. "These decisions caused devastating harm not only to PayNetworx and its customers, but also to WLES as its owner."
"This was so damaging to PayNetWorx and Card Associations brands, merchants could not accept cards over the 4th of July holiday" said Trent Voigt, CEO of PayNetWorx. "I have never seen this happen in 30 years of being a CEO of a payments processor and talking with the Card Associations, they could not remember it ever happening.
The lawsuit seeks damages exceeding $80 million, including losses tied to the diminished business value, and the severe disruption caused to merchant customers. WLES is also seeking attorneys' fees and all other relief available under Texas law.
About WLES, L.P.
WLES, L.P. is a Texas-based investment entity with holdings in the financial technology and payments sectors, including ownership of PayNetworx, LLC.
About PayNetWorx LLC
PayNetWorx LLC is a full front-end and back-end processor. The first full processing facility completely operating in the cloud. PayNetWorx is located in Van Alstyne TX and is wholly owned by WLES L.P.
Media Contact
Micah Dortch
Dortch Lindstrom Livingston Law Group
2613 Dallas Parkway, Suite 220
Plano, Texas 75093
Tel: (214) 252-8258
Email: micah@dll-law.com
SOURCE: PayNetWorx LLC
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/banking-and-financial-services/wles-l.p.-the-parent-company-of-paynetworx-files-suit-against-pathwa-1116577