A number of emails sent between lawyers on opposite sides of the swipe fee antitrust lawsuit could possibly impact the previous settlement rulings.
Emails sent between two lawyers representing opposing sides in swipe fee settlements could impact the $6 billion swipe fee antitrust settlement between MasterCard, Visa and a vast number of merchants, and could also impact a $79 million settlement between American Express and a number of retailers, according to reports by PYMTS.com and The Wall Street Journal.
Keila Ravelo, an attorney with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, represented MasterCard during the antitrust case settled in 2012. In November 2014, she resigned. After the resignation, Ravelo and Melvin Feliz, her husband, were both charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Willkie Farr’s investigation into Ravelo and Feliz and the alleged fraud also turned up emails and other documents that detailed communications between Ravelo and attorney Gary Friedman, who had been the attorney for merchants in the antitrust case through the Friedman Law Group LLC, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Now merchants are alleging that they did not receive due representation. Their attorneys are expected to argue that Ravelo and Friedman shared confidential information. At presstime, attorneys representing about 100 merchants were looking to overturn the settlement struck three years ago, with action expected on Tuesday, July 28.
Last week, a merchant group reportedly filed papers asking for a $32 million fee that Friedman’s firm (which also represented merchants in the American Express case) stands to collect from the MasterCard settlement to be denied and returned to the settlement fund, according to PYMTS.com.
The Wall Street Journal reported that it is not yet clear whether or not the exchange of documents between Ravelo and Friedman will be enough to overturn the settlements. Both MasterCard and American Express have said in court filings that the lawyers did not play big enough roles in the cases to justify overturning the settlements.