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Louisiana state flag. (vistoff/Getty Images)

Two New Orleans lawyers are behind bars after being convicted of helping stage passenger‑vehicle crashes with tractor‑trailers to defraud insurance companies and truckers for profit.

A federal jury convicted attorneys Vanessa Motta, a 44‑year‑old former film stuntwoman, and Jason F. Giles, 47, on all counts they faced. Motta’s firm, Motta Law, and The King Firm, where Giles was a partner, were charged separately and also found guilty.

Prosecutors charged the two individuals and their firms with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud; mail fraud and aiding and abetting; obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting; and witness tampering and aiding and abetting.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana said the staged‑accident scam was a long‑running operation spanning from December 2011 to December 2024. During that time, participants defrauded insurance companies and trucking carriers by staging collisions and litigating the resulting claims to obtain payouts.

According to prosecutors, the New Orleans‑area participants paid so-called “slammers” in passenger vehicles to deliberately collide with other vehicles, especially with 18‑wheelers due to the size of the coverage policies they must carry. The attorneys then litigated those cases and “often encouraged those passengers to seek medically unnecessary neck and back surgeries to incur medical costs and increase the size of future insurance company settlements,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Other participants included “spotters,” who drove vehicles used to help slammers flee, and “recruiters” who brought new passengers into the operation. Another defendant, Diaminike Stalbert, 35, worked as a recruiter and was convicted of making false statements to federal agents.

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“The defendants in this case pursued personal fortune through lies and deception, that potentially impacted every auto insurance policyholder in Louisiana,” said Jonathan Tapp, FBI special agent in charge of the New Orleans field office.

“Motta, Motta Law, Giles and The King Firm successfully launched a fraudulent scheme of epic proportions that both victimized the judicial system and exploited the auto insurance industry, all to enrich themselves with millions of dollars in ill‑gotten gains,” added Michael M. Simpson, first assistant U.S. attorney. He praised prosecutors and investigators “for their relentless and meticulous work to shine a light on this scourge and hold those involved responsible.”

Henry Hanscom, American Trucking Associations’ chief advocacy and public affairs officer, also welcomed the verdicts.

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“As shocking as the true‑crime elements of this case are, the deeper story is not about one case or one courtroom. It is about a civil justice system that, in too many places, has been distorted by lawsuit abuse, where profit takes precedence over fairness and the costs are quietly passed on to everyone else,” Hanscom said.

Renee Amar, executive director of the Louisiana Motor Transport Association, said the convictions bring long‑awaited accountability for truckers harmed by staged‑crash operations.

“For years, these staged crashes drove up insurance costs, destroyed reputations, and threatened livelihoods,” Amar said. “While we respect the jury’s decision, it does not erase the fact that the system failed to protect innocent business owners, including some of our very own members.”

Motta and Giles both were suspended from practicing law in Louisiana in December 2024, according to the Louisiana State Bar Association. Motta was admitted to the bar in May 2016, while Giles was admitted in 2004.

Chief U.S. District Judge Wendy B. Vitter is scheduled to sentence Motta and Motta Law on July 7, and Giles and The King Firm on July 14.

Despite her conviction, Motta remained listed March 23 as eligible to practice law in Texas, according to the Texas bar association. The State Bar of Texas will await Vitter’s sentence before considering action on Motta’s license to practice there.

“Under the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure, the State Bar of Texas must await sentencing before we can proceed by obtaining the judgment to commence compulsory discipline in Texas against this attorney,” said Kim Buser, public affairs counsel at the State Bar of Texas.

The case is the latest in a long line of convictions in the scheme.

“The FBI along with our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Louisiana State Police, and the Metropolitan Crime Commission have worked for the last seven years to uncover every instance of fraud, resulting in successful cases against more than 50 individuals,” Tapp said. “We will continue that pursuit as long as it takes.”