New Orleans attorney indicted in staged wrecks scheme asks to go to trial next month, court documents show
By Erin Lowrey, Travers Mackel
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NEW ORLEANS (WDSU) — An attorney who has been indicted in a long-ranging staged wrecks scheme is asking for a judge to move forward with trial next month due to financial constraints.
Vanessa Motta’s attorney, Sean Toomey, filed a motion Thursday asking for a speedy trial.
In the motion, Motta claims to be in “financial ruin” due to not being able to work. Motta’s law license was suspended after she was indicted.
According to the motion, Motta has two children, one with a severe disability, and is asking that the trial proceed with its scheduled date of March 17.
Toomey states in the motion that the federal government has had five years to prepare for the trial.
Earlier this month Toomey filed a motion asking to be removed as the attorney for Vanessa Motta Law, because of the firm’s inability to pay legal fees.
The judge in the case, Judge Wendy Vitter, denied his request. She has not ruled on the motion for a speedy trial.
Motta is facing charges of witness tampering, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and obstruction of justice charges. Motta’s firm is also charged in the scheme.
More from the indictment:
According to the indictment, Ryan J. Harris, also known as “Red,” conspired with Motto, Alfortish, Giles, and three others named Leon M. Parker, also known as “Chunky,” Diaminike F. Stalbert, Carl G. Morgan, and Timara N. Lawrence to defraud insurance companies and commercial vehicle companies through false wreck claims.
The indictment claims Motta, Giles, and their firms knowingly pursued lawsuits for staged accidents.
Giles and Alfortish, who is a disbarred attorney, worked with Motta by paying what the indictment calls “slammers,” or people who staged the accidents.
Stalbert, Parker, and Morgan are described as “slammers.” Lawrence was in a relationship with Harris, and Morgan was a family member of Harris, according to the indictment.
Parker was involved in at least three staged accidents, and Stalbert was involved in at least two. Morgan was involved in one staged wreck.
The indictment claims Lawrence would provide stolen personal information to Harris as part of the scheme.
Beginning in 2011, Damian Labeaud and Roderick Hickman began staging accidents for Giles, according to the indictment.
Labeaud and Hickman are accused of working as slammers and spotters, helping find 18-wheelers to target for wrecks. They would also refer people involved in the wrecks to Giles law firm, the King Firm.
The indictment accuses Giles of paying both $1,000 per passenger in the collisions. To conceal their payments, the checks were often made out as loans or advances on future settlements.
In 2017, another slammer introduced Cornelius Garrison to the scheme by training him to stage accidents, according to the indictment.
Garrison was then introduced to Alfortish, who is described as playing “an active role” in staging accidents for Motta’s law firm.
The indictment claims Garrison would direct passengers to Alfortish and Motta’s law firm.
Harris eventually began working with Garrison to stage accidents. At some point, the two stopped working together and Harris began staging accidents for other people.
Garrison began covertly working with the federal government in 2019 regarding the wrecks.
Motta and Alfortish are accused of offering Garrison money to move out of the United States if he would stop cooperating with the federal government.
Garrison received a subpoena for a deposition in the case.
The indictment claims Harris, Alfortish, and Motta and her firm conspired to stop Harris from participating in the deposition.
Harris is accused of killing Garrison before he was able to testify in the probe.
Alfortish is facing one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, three counts of obstruction of justice, and four counts of witness tampering.
Motta is facing one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, three counts of obstruction of justice, and four counts of witness tampering. Her firm is also facing the same charges.
Giles faces one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, five counts of obstruction of justice, and six counts of witness tampering. His firm also faces the same counts.
WDSU has reached out to the attorneys representing Giles, Motta, and Alfortish. All are aware of the indictment against their clients.
Motta’s attorney issued the following statement regarding the allegations:
“Vanessa Motta is completely innocent of any wrongdoing. The government’s theory – that a lawyer barely a year out of law school decided to participate in a sprawling conspiracy – is terribly mistaken. If these accidents were in fact staged, my client was also a victim and taken advantage by others. Over the last five years Vanessa has been unjustly vilified in the press and so while we strongly believe this indictment is misguided, we are looking forward to the trial of this case where Vanessa will finally be vindicated.”
At the time of this publication, responses had not yet been received from Giles and Alfortish’s attorneys.
About the scheme:
Motta represented two clients who have pleaded guilty to federal crimes, admitting to staging wrecks with tractor-trailers in New Orleans and then filing fraudulent insurance claims saying they were injured when they weren’t and that the wreck was not their fault — when it was.
Alfortish is a disbarred lawyer who served jail time over a decade ago after pleading to unrelated fraud charges.
Sources say the two are implicated in the death of a federal witness who was executed in 2020. To date, neither have been charged with any crimes.
Cornelius Garrison was gunned down in Gentilly in 2020, just days after he was charged with federal crimes for being a go-between for lawyers and those driving the vehicles used in the staged wrecks.
Garrison was cooperating with the FBI and Department of Justice on this matter.
In May, WDSU Investigates broke the story of the arrest of two people in the murder case.
Ryan Harris, who is accused of killing Garrison, was arrested with his girlfriend, Jovana Gardner.
Gardner cut a deal days after the arrest.
The case had been cold for almost four years.
In open court in May, at a hearing for Harris, the FBI said that he had documents at his home linking him to Motta’s law firm.
The feds say Garrison was shot 10 times. All 10 shell casings were found at the scene.
Pictures of his body were also shown in open court.
Garrison, along with Gardner and Harris, were involved in “Operation Sideswipe.”
That’s the name of the wide-ranging federal investigation into staged wrecks in New Orleans.
The FBI said in open court that the probe started in early 2019, just months after WDSU Investigates first reported on how wrecks were being staged in New Orleans and how local lawyers cried foul on how suspect insurance claims were being filed.
According to the lead FBI agent, who testified at the May detention hearing, Gardner and Harris were in a relationship and share a child together.
The FBI says the two would work with Garrison, helping to stage wrecks and then work to file false insurance claims.
The FBI agent who testified in May told the court that in the fall of 2019, Garrison started working with the feds as a cooperating witness.
He admitted that he was providing information on cases, including one involving Harris.
Garrison was charged in 2020 and, days later, was killed.
The FBI said Harris is on video buying a cell phone at a Family Dollar.
They say that the cell phone was purchased one day before Garrison was killed, and it was used to send messages and make calls to him hours before he was killed.
One call was made just two minutes before Garrison’s mother called 911, reporting his shooting death.
Federal prosecutors showed a picture of Harris in court buying the cell phone.
They say the phone used then went dead after Garrison was murdered.
Gardner was in court, wearing a navy blue prison jumpsuit.
Several family members attended the court hearing, and all declined to comment afterward.
This case is set to go to trial in January but is expected to be delayed.
Almost 50 people have pleaded guilty in connection with the staged wrecks.
The federal probe was launched months after WDSU’s initial report on this matter in 2018 and led to state lawmakers enhancing laws to protect tractor-trailer drivers in the state.
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