An FBI agent is testifying in a wide-ranging staged wrecks scheme.
Vanessa Motta and Jason Giles are standing 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.
Special Agent Matthew Smith began his testimony Monday afternoon, during which he outlined listening to Motta’s phone calls.
He revealed that there were conversations in which Motta encouraged others to say they did not know anything about the staged wrecks.
“It’s now gone to 77 cases. That’s 77 different times you can be harassed in any way, shape or form,” Motta said in the recording.
Smith returned to the stand Tuesday, where he was cross-examined by Linda Van Davis, Giles’ attorney.
Smith testified that the probe into staged wrecks began in 2019 after a complaint from a law firm representing insurance companies.
The complaint specifically outlined concerns about wrecks being staged.
Smith testified that he did not receive the initial complaint himself, but that agents were told the firm had identified dozens, possibly up to 100, suspicious cases.
Smith spoke about a meeting with the firm Perrier & Lacoste in January 2019.
Smith said attorneys provided evidence pointing to Cornelius Garrison, a slammer and federal witness who was killed, as a key player in the scheme.
According to Smith, Garrison was the primary person identified as a slammer in these cases before others, like Damian Labeaud and Roderick Hickman, were known.
Van Davis pressed Smith on his memory connected to his reports of the scheme.
He frequently said he would need to reference those reports to remember details about initial complaints, specific attorneys involved in meetings with the FBI, which firms filed lawsuits in certain cases, and when key evidence, like phone numbers, was identified.
Davis also pointed out the timeline of Giles receiving a target letter in connection with the investigation.
Davis said Giles did not receive a letter until 2024. Smith said he could not remember when Giles received a letter, but a delay would not necessarily be unusual.
Davis also mentioned text messages that Labeaud referenced during his testimony last week.
She asked Smith if he remembered Giles using fishing terms that were deemed code words in those messages.
Smith said he did not recall Giles using the term “fish” in any text messages.
Van Davis also pressed Smith on whether the term “fish” was ever used as coded language.
Smith said, “No, because it wasn’t fish.”
Van Davis also questioned the recordings that were played in court. Smith said the recording was “consensual,” meaning one person agreed to the recording.
Smith called this “standard terminology” by the FBI, but Van Davis questioned how the evidence was being characterized since the recordings were described as secret in the indictment.
Van Davis also asked Smith about the timeline of the recordings.
Van Davis said the recordings played were from November 2020, four years before Giles was indicted.
She asked Smith about the phone records tied to other people in the case and asked whether he could remember if Giles’ number appeared in those records.
Smith said he could not remember if Giles’ number was in the records but said it is not unusual for attorneys to communicate with their clients over the phone.
Van Davis concluded her cross-examination, and Motta’s attorney, Sean Toomey, began his cross-examination.
Toomey questioned Smith about Garrison’s statements made to the FBI during different interviews.
He questioned Garrison’s statements about Motta’s knowledge of the staged wrecks.
In a 2019 interview, Toomey said Garrison suggests Motta may not have known about the wrecks. Then, in a later interview, Toomey said Garrison’s knowledge may have been influenced by what was reported on the scheme publicly.
Toomey suggested that Garrison’s statements evolved, eventually stating that Motta knew everything from the beginning.
He also pointed out that in several FBI interviews, Garrison suggested Sean Alfortish would be the one who took in the staged accidents and distributed them to other lawyers.
Toomey stressed that Garrison told the FBI that Alfortish was his main point of contact.
Judge Wendy Vitter reiterated to the jury that Garrison, a federal witness who was murdered before the trial began, was not there to testify.
Vitter also separated Garrison’s murder from this trial completely, and the aspect of his death will be addressed in a separate trial in August.
Prosecutors redirected their questioning to Smith about Garrison’s statements to the FBI.
Smith reiterated that he believed Garrison’s statements were consistent, and that he was initially reluctant to talk about Motta’s knowledge of the scheme.
“I think over time it became apparent to him there was no way around it,” said Smith. “It had to come out.”
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 the 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:FBI agent testifies, plays recordings tied to staged wrecks scheme
