U.S. District Court Judge Wendy Vitter has denied a request for a new trial by Vanessa Motta, the New Orleans attorney convicted in March for her role as a ringleader in the Louisiana staged accident scam that deliberately slammed cars into trucks to generate large insurance payouts. The prosecution is among the largest of its kind targeting staged accident fraud against commercial trucks — a category of crime that has been a persistent concern for the trucking and insurance industries.

Motta was convicted alongside fellow attorney Jason Giles. The King Law Firm, where Giles was employed, was also convicted, as was co-conspirator Daiminike Stalbert on lesser charges.

Following her conviction, Motta — who remains in custody — sought a new trial from Judge Vitter on multiple grounds. All of those arguments were rejected.

Murder Trial Set for August

In a parallel proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the criminal murder trial of two men is scheduled to begin August 10. The defendants are Sean Alfortish, identified as Motta's romantic partner during much of the scam, and Leon Parker.

The two men are accused of involvement in the September 2020 killing of Cornelius Garrison. Garrison had pleaded guilty in connection with the scam — which prosecutors ultimately dubbed "Operation Sideswipe" — and had agreed to cooperate with the federal investigation. That probe ultimately led to more than 60 people being indicted, the majority on mail and wire fraud charges.

Aside from Motta, Giles, and the upcoming Alfortish/Parker trial, no other defendant has proceeded to trial; the remaining defendants have either reached plea agreements or remain in legal limbo.

Connection Between the Cases

Motta was never charged in connection with Garrison's murder. However, in her new trial request, she argued that the federal government had threatened "to introduce evidence of Motta's involvement in Garrison's murder."

According to her filing, "The Motta Defendants claim that the Government advised at trial that it would introduce evidence regarding Garrison's murder, and Motta's involvement in or acquiescence to it" — but only if the defense took certain steps, one of which would have been Motta testifying on her own behalf.

In denying the request, Judge Vitter noted that the government had stated prior to trial that it would not raise the Garrison murder unless the defense "opened the door" to the issue through one of those several steps.

Garrison's murder did come up during the trial, Judge Vitter acknowledged. However, she wrote that "the Court very clearly instructed the jury that none of the defendants on trial were charged with his murder and that it was not to be considered by the jury as evidence for the crimes charged against the defendants on trial."

Motta's other grounds for requesting a new trial included objections to the jury instructions on the witness tampering charge she faced; an assertion that Giles' closing arguments prejudiced the jury against her; a claim that the time allotted to the federal prosecutor for closing arguments was unfair to the defendants; and an argument that an unresolved legal issue remained when the case was sent to the jury. Judge Vitter rejected all of these arguments.

Sentencing Delays Continue

Sentencing for Motta and Giles was originally scheduled for July and is now set for September 8. However, a motion to continue the sentencing process is pending and, if approved, would push the date further.

Meanwhile, the docket for the Alfortish and Parker murder trial is filling as the August proceedings approach. The voir dire form indicates the trial is expected to last three weeks and asks potential jurors whether they have "family members or close friends" employed in fields relevant to the case, including insurance, trucking or transportation, accounting, bookkeeping, banking/finance, legal, law enforcement, and small business ownership. The range of industries referenced in the questionnaire reflects the breadth of the scheme's reach across the commercial trucking, legal, and financial sectors.

Keating Sentencing Postponed Again

Separately, the sentencing of Danny Keating — the first attorney to plead guilty in the Louisiana staged accident scam — has been delayed once more. Keating pleaded guilty in June 2021 for helping to arrange some of the staged accidents. His sentencing, most recently scheduled for August, has now been postponed to October 8.

Journalist John Kingston noted the development on X:

Once again, sentencing of Danny Keating, 1st attorney to plead guilty in the Louisiana staged accident scam, is delayed. Was supposed to be in August. Now it's Oct. 8. But: that delay is far less than earlier ones of 5-6 months. Not sure if that means anything. #trucking — John Kingston (@JohnHKingston) July 28, 2026

The sentencing of Damian Labeaud, described as one of the scheme's leaders on the ground who was behind the wheel for several of the staged crashes — after which he would exit the vehicle and another individual would substitute into the driver's seat — remains scheduled for August 20. Labeaud's sentencing has also been delayed multiple times, typically around the same periods as Keating's. Keating's most recent delay was agreed to last week. The pattern of repeated sentencing postponements across multiple defendants means that final legal consequences for key participants remain unresolved, in some cases years after guilty pleas were entered.

Source: FreightWaves