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Law360 (April 1, 2020, 8:54 PM EDT ) A convicted fraudster asked a New Jersey federal court Wednesday to release him from a county jail over coronavirus fears as he awaits sentencing on charges he and his then-wife defrauded Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Hunton & Williams LLP and MasterCard Inc. in a $7.8 million scheme involving phony litigation support services.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty, Melvin Feliz's attorney requested his "compassionate release" pending his sentencing, citing his age and pulmonary issues in suggesting he faces a heightened risk of contracting COVID-19 while incarcerated at Essex County Correctional Facility.
"As a 54-year-old male, Mr. Feliz is at a higher risk for contracting COVID-19 than most of the other inmates and corrections officers at ECCF. In addition, Mr. Feliz has indicated that in recent years he has experienced pulmonary issues related to a persistent cough," Feliz attorney Jason F. Orlando of Murphy Orlando LLC wrote to the judge.
Feliz has admitted to conspiring with Keila Ravelo while she was a partner at the firms and representing MasterCard. The scheme involved bilking the firms and the company over several years out of millions paid to sham litigation support companies.
It was not immediately clear whether Feliz and Ravelo were still married.
After pleading guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and tax evasion, Ravelo was sentenced in October 2018 to five years in prison. She is scheduled to be released in April 2022, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
Feliz pled guilty in August 2015 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of tax evasion in connection with the scheme. Feliz previously pled guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine. He was charged with two other men in that case. Feliz has been in custody at the Essex County jail since December 2014, according to Orlando's letter.
Under a plea agreement, Feliz has been expected to receive a four-year prison term for the fraudulent billing scheme, which would be served consecutively with a sentence of 10 years in prison for the narcotics offense, court documents state.
The parties are attempting to schedule Feliz's sentencing for late May, according to Orlando's letter.
In December, Judge McNulty denied Feliz's motions to withdraw his guilty pleas in both cases. Having reviewed the motion papers and Feliz's pro se letters to the court, Judge McNulty said in his Dec. 3 opinion that he found "no cognizable claim of actual innocence of these offenses, and no alternative explanation for these admissions under oath."
"The theme that runs through all of these submissions is simply that Mr. Feliz believes he could strike a better deal under current sentencing law [and, as a bonus, possibly take advantage of the passage of time to bar reinstatement of the wire fraud charges]," said Judge McNulty, referring to the reforms in the First Step Act that was enacted in 2018.
Feliz's bid to get out of jail comes two days after U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer denied motions from two men accused of taking part in a $722 million cryptocurrency scheme to be released from the Essex County jail over fears of a COVID-19 outbreak there.
Among other factors, the judge noted that the jail has "undertaken extensive measures to address COVID-19," such as quarantining new inmates for 14 days to ensure they don't display related symptoms before they're moved into a housing unit, severely curtailing the flow of people coming into the facility, and placing a moratorium on visits from family and friends.
Orlando declined to comment Wednesday. Matthew Reilly, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, said Wednesday the office declined to comment.
The government is represented by Andrew Kogan of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey.
Feliz is represented by Jason F. Orlando of Murphy Orlando LLC.
The case is U.S. v. Feliz, case number 2:15-cr-00421, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
--Editing by Janice Carter Brown.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
