A key piracy case for DirecTV and sister company NDS Group, News Corp.'s TV technology unit, got a boost late last week with the sentencing of two defendants to several years in prison.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida said Gilberto Felix and Julio Felix were sentenced in U.S. District Court to 14 and 10 years in prison, respectively, ordered to pay mandatory restitution to victims, and spend five years in supervised release. The sentence was the maximum under the federal sentencing guidelines, the attorney's office said.
The two brothers also were ordered to pay $1.2 million in forfeitures, including the forfeiture of their interests in two homes, nine bank accounts, and an online escrow account, the office said in a statement.
The Felix brothers had both pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit check fraud, wire fraud, and the pirating of DirecTV satellite programming, as well as substantive check fraud and wire fraud charges. Gilberto Felix also pleaded guilty to Social Security fraud.
Last year, a federal Grand Jury sitting in Miami returned charges against the Felix brothers and 17 other co-conspirators in a 95 count Indictment. To date, 18 of the 19 defendants have been apprehended, and 17 have since pleaded guilty, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Yea I watched this case for a while.Where they really messed up was when they started selling DSS Emulator Data Loggers on fleabay.Never seen so many fraud charges in one case.Dave got $500,000 out of this one.