Bergen County Lawyer's Double Life Could Jeopardize $6 Billion Antitrust Lawsuit: Report

Keila Ravelo’s double life and her alleged defrauding of one of the top New York law firms could jeopardize one of the biggest antitrust settlements in history, Business Insider reports.

Ravelo, from Englewood Cliffs, was a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP where she is accused of fabricating paperwork for legal services to the amount of $7.8 million, authorities said.

Ravelo was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Her husband, Melvin Feliz, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and tax evasion Aug. 25.

People from Willkie Farr & Gallagher found that while they were investigating the alleged theft that Ravelo received confidential information in emails from an opposing lawyer in two antitrust lawsuits, Business Insider reported. That lawyer, Gary Friedman, was a longtime friend of Ravelo and represented the merchants who suing the credit-card companies.

One of those lawsuits led to a record $6 billion settlement in a case where MasterCard and Visa were accused of conspiring to fix fees that retailers could charge customers, the Associated Press reported.

Now that those emails have been discovered, lawyers on both sides filed paperwork questioning the accuracy of the settlement, Business Insider reported; MasterCard and American Express both said last month that they were confident the settlements would stand.

Text messages between Friedman and Ravelo showed that Friedman consulted Ravelo on the settlement “every step of the way,” the judge in the case found, the report states.

Ravelo and Feliz allegedly defrauded MasterCard and the law firms they previously worked for, authorities said.

Ravelo’s lawyer, Steve Sadow, said in an e-mail that Feliz “coercively demanded” and that he “led a dual life, including having a secret second family and claiming to be a legitimate businessman.”