Another star witness for the federal government has taken the stand in a wide-ranging staged wrecks trial.
Damiean Labeaud, a runner for The King Firm, pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme and is testifying.
Vanessa Motta and Jason Giles are set to stand trial for three weeks and are both accused of staging car crashes to fraudulently collect insurance money.
Motta, a former stuntwoman turned plaintiff’s lawyer, and Giles, a principal at the King Firm, are charged with wire fraud, mail fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
Labeaud, who pleaded guilty to being a runner for Giles, said Giles would pay him up to $15,000 in a given week, depending on the number of people in the crash.
He said that he has none of the money left from the scheme, and said he “thought it would never end.”
Labeaud admitted that staging wrecks was “easier than selling drugs.”
Labeaud also outlined the first time he met Giles. He was assigned to Giles as a client before the schemes began when he worked for the Womac firm.
According to Labeaud, when he met Giles, they talked about his plan to create The King Firm.
“He told me he was going to start his own law firm, and he was going to bring me with him, and I was excited about it, I knew we were about to make money,” Labeaud said.
Labeaud said when he first started working for the King Firm, they worked on one floor. He said the next thing he knew, Giles owned the whole building.
Labeaud said Giles paid him to help stage wrecks and was paid in cash and checks.
According to Labeaud, Giles kept “thousands” of dollars in cash at his office, and even noted that they were “pulling too much cash” out of the banks every day.
Labeaud explained how he was paid for accidents. He gave an example of $3,000 payments for crashes involving three people. At most, he’d get $12,000 to $15,000, depending on how many wrecks he staged that week.
According to Labeaud, he’d do odd jobs around the office daily and said, “Nobody knew what I was doing.”
Labeaud said he and Giles became close, describing themselves as family.
He testified that at no point was he concerned about getting caught.
According to Labeaud, at some point, he and Giles worked less frequently together and their relationship became strained. That is when he began working with Patrick Danny Keating, a lawyer for the Keating Firm.
Labeaud said Keating told him, “I want to play.”
Lebeaud went on to testify about the day he was arrested. He said he wasn’t surprised and knew it was coming because things were getting “hot.”
He said when he got arrested, he realized it was “every man for himself.”
Labeaud said Giles promised to get him an attorney, but never did.
He then became emotional on the stand and recapped text messages he sent Giles about staging accidents, payment, and code words used to describe the scheme.
Court took a break for lunch.
Prosecutors are expected to call more witnesses to try to prove their case.
The trial is expected to last about two more weeks.
About the scheme:
The scheme has drawn significant attention from the legal community due to the state’s high auto insurance rates.
The federal investigation was launched months after WDSU Investigates broke the story in October 2018, following reports from lawyers for trucking companies about repeated involvement of the same individuals and law firms in multiple crashes, notably the Motta Firm and the King Law Firm.
The investigation led to changes in state laws to better protect truck drivers, who are required to carry $1 million in liability insurance.
More than 50 individuals have pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme after admitting to driving into tractor trailers to stage wrecks.
In 2020, U.S. Attorney Peter Strasser described the scheme as “outrageous.”
Attorney Danny Keating, who pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, reportedly collected over $1 million by handling 77 fraudulent cases.
Keating is expected to testify at the trial, along with other lawyers who have received transactional immunity for their cooperation.
Motta and Giles have pleaded not guilty, with Motta represented by former federal prosecutor Toomey and Giles by Van Davis.
The trial, presided over by Judge Wendy Vitter, a Donald Trump appointee, is expected to last four to five weeks.
A significant aspect of the case involves the homicide of a federal witness, Garrison, who was killed in 2020 after agreeing to cooperate with the investigation.
Two men, Alfortish, Motta’s fiance, and Parker, are charged in the killing, with their trial set for August.
Motta and Giles are not charged in connection with the killing, and the judge has separated those charges to be tried later.
The jury will focus solely on whether the wrecks were staged and if Motta and Giles played key roles in the scheme.
READ MORE:Runner said staging wrecks was ‘easier than selling drugs’ in bombshell testimony
