Arraignment for man accused in DirecTV case postponed

Published 12:00 am Friday, August 2, 2002

PADUCAH, Ky. -- Wednesday's arraignment for Gregory Chaffin, a Franklin Furnace man charged with manufacturing, selling and distributing illegal DirecTV access cards, was postponed until Aug. 14.

Terry Sherman, the Columbus attorney representing Chaffin, 51, had a death in the family resulting in the postponement, said Assistant U.S. Attorney James R. Lesousky Jr., the case prosecutor.

The defendants, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, are also charged with engaging in a conspiracy to commit money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code Section 1956(h). The indictment also contains a forfeiture count.

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According to a release from DirecTV, the indictment charged that William Charles Rath, 61, of Ontario, Canada, headed an international conspiracy to design, manufacture, and distribute the devices throughout North America. Also, he allegedly took orders for the devices in Canada, then had the product manufactured and distributed by the three U.S. defendants.

Chaffin's alleged role in the conspiracy was shipping the illegal devices to Rath.

The indictment alleges that Rath incorporated the company "Cottonwood Limited" in January 1996 in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the British West Indies as an investment holding company. Also, Rath allegedly opened a bank account there under the name of Cottonwood Limited one month later.

During an investigation by the DirecTV Office of Signal Integrity, information about this account was uncovered, resulting in subpoenas of Rath's bank records.

Between March 1, 1996 and January 22, 1997, Rath allegedly transferred a total of $754,868 to two of Chaffin's bank accounts.

The arraignment will be at 8 a.m. in Paducah. An extradition hearing for Rath is scheduled for Sept. 10 in Canadian court, Lesousky said.

The maximum penalties are 35 years imprisonment, a $1 million fine, and supervised release for three years. Amelia Pridemore/The Ironton Tribune