A federal jury in New Orleans has found two personal injury attorneys guilty of involving themselves in a scheme to stage collisions with 18-wheelers and then collect settlement payouts.
The lawyers, Jason Giles and former Hollywood stuntwoman Vanessa Motta, were found guilty on Friday of fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, local news outlets WVUE and WWL Louisiana – a Guardian reporting partner – reported. Their law firms were convicted of related charges.
A third defendant, Diaminike Stalbert, was convicted of making false statements but acquitted of a conspiracy charge.
Over nearly three weeks of testimony and arguments in the courtroom of US district judge Wendy Vitter, prosecutors alleged that Giles and Motta paid so-called slammers to intentionally crash into tractor-trailers to then file lawsuits and seek larger settlement payouts. WWL reported that the attorneys admitted they were aware of the plot, but claimed ignorance with respect to its full scope.
Experts estimate that the prevalence of car accident fraud in Louisiana has added at least $600 annually in car insurance costs for the state’s drivers.
Defense attorneys at the trial maintained the scheme was not criminal and, at worst, amounted to professional negligence. Motta’s lawyer in particular portrayed her as a young and inexperienced attorney susceptible to the influence of others around her.
Among the witnesses from whom jurors heard were slammers who recounted how they were recruited to stage crashes in exchange for payment.
The case was complicated by the 2020 murder of a slammer named Cornelius Garrison III, who had been cooperating with investigators. Motta’s fiance at the time of Garrison’s killing, Sean Alfortish, is one of two men scheduled to be tried later in connection with the murder.
Motta, Giles and Stalbert’s guilty verdicts are among more than 50 convictions stemming from what authorities codenamed Operation Sideswipe – mostly involving low-level participants who admitted piling into cars and intentionally getting into crashes as part of a scheme for a quick payoff.
Most of the crashes in question were made to happen on stretches of Interstate 10 and other major thoroughfares in the eastern section of New Orleans – one of the first red flags to draw scrutiny from defense attorneys for the trucking companies and from insurers, who first exposed the lawsuits as fraudulent and helped set the stage for Operation Sideswipe.
WVUE described an emotional scene in the courtroom after Friday’s verdict, with Motta’s mother passing out, prompting the defendant to scream, “Mommy! Mommy!” until medics were summoned. The woman reportedly then sat up and hugged Motta, who later appeared to either dry heave or vomit in the courtroom as proceedings pertaining to the guilty verdict against her continued, the outlet noted.
The defendants’ sentencing dates were tentatively set in July.
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