Feds indict four more participants in 2015 staged accident scheme

Four people have been charged in a three-count federal indictment for their involvement in a staged accident scheme in 2015 in New Orleans that resulted in a $4.7 million settlement. U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser of the Eastern District of Louisiana announced the indictments Oct. 16.

The four defendants are Anthony Robinson, Audrey Harris, Jerry Schaffer and Keishira Robinson. They are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and two counts of mail fraud. The indictment charges the defendants and others with intentionally staging an automobile accident with a tractor-trailer in order to defraud trucking and insurance companies.

 

According to the indictment, Co-conspirator A (unnamed), Harris, Schaffer and Keishira Robinson intentionally collided with a tractor-trailer on Oct. 13, 2015, in the area of Alvar Street and France Road in the eastern part of New Orleans. The indictment alleges that Co-conspirator A (the slammer) intentionally struck the 18-wheeler and was picked up from the collision site by Damian Labeaud, who pled guilty to a previous indictment charging him and seven others with staging automobile accidents. Anthony Robinson, who had been in Labeaud’s vehicle, then got behind the wheel of his own vehicle to make it appear that he had been driving at the time of the staged accident.

While this indictment involves one multi-million dollar accident, the indictment states that between 2015 and 2017 Labeaud and Co-conspirator A staged at least 100 accidents. In this case, the tractor-trailer was owned by C.R. England, a family-owned interstate commercial trucking company headquartered in Salt Lake City. The truck driver worked for C.R. England and resided in Michigan. C.R. England was self-insured for up to $1,000,000 per claim for vehicle accidents and Chubb, previously Ace American Insurance Company, provided the excess coverage, according to court documents.

GoAuto Insurance Company, a Louisiana domestic company, insured the 2002 Chevrolet Tahoe owned by Anthony Robinson that Co-conspirator A slammed into the tractor-trailer.

As discussed in the indictment, the passengers were referred to an attorney who paid Labeaud and Co-conspirator A to stage accidents. All of the defendants were treated by doctors and healthcare providers at the direction of their attorneys, and Anthony Robinson, Harris and Schaffer underwent surgeries. In total, the victim trucking and insurance companies paid out approximately $4.7 million for the fraudulent claims associated with this staged accident.

The Robinsons and Harris are related, according to the indictment.

Labeaud and Co-conspirator A worked as runners for Attorney A, whom we now know is Daniel Patrick Keating because of his indictment on Nov. 5. As runners Labeaud and Co-conspirator A referred persons involved in legitimate motor vehicle accidents to Keating who paid them $1,000 per passenger for accidents with tractor-trailers and $500 per passenger for vehicle accidents that did not involve tractor-trailers. While working together the two brought at least 20 accidents to Keating, according to the indictment.

Labeaud and Co-conspirator A also served as slammers and spotters in staged accidents and sometimes discussed the staging of accidents with Keating before the accidents happened, the indictment explains. Keating paid Labeaud and Co-conspirator A via cash or check for staged and legitimate accidents, and sometimes advanced them funds for staging accidents. In addition, Keating represented Labeaud and Co-conspirator A in accidents in which they were each involved.

Labeaud sometimes did work around Keating’s office as a way to conceal payments to him for staged accidents, according to the indictment.

In the staged accident that is the subject of this indictment, Co-conspirator A, while driving Anthony Robinson’s Tahoe southbound on Alvar Street near the intersection of France Road, observed a Freightliner semi tractor-trailer operated by C.R. England changing lanes from right to left and intentionally collided with the tractor-trailer. At that point, Co-conspirator A exited the Tahoe and Anthony Robinson got into the driver’s seat. Harris contacted the New Orleans Police Department and reported the accident.

According to the indictment, Anthony Robinson falsely reported that he was driving the Tahoe and that the tractor-trailer had struck his vehicle.

After NOPD departed, the four defendants rendezvoused at a gas station on Almonaster Street and Louisa Street and later met with Keating at his office entering the law office through a rear stair entrance.

On the day of the accident, Keating made two cash withdrawals from his personal law firm account, one for $2,000 and another for $1,300. Keating paid Labeaud $1,500 from his and Attorney B’s account the day after the accident, and Keating withdrew approximately $2,000 in cash the same day.

After getting the money from Keating, Labeaud paid Co-conspirator A in cash for the staged accident, the indictment says.

While this indictment does not identify Attorney B or Co-conspirator A, The Times Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported in September that court documents “strongly suggest” that Attorney B is Vanessa Motta and that Co-conspirator A is Motta’s fianc‚, Sean Alfortish, and that Alfortish paid a previously indicted individual to stage accidents and referred the resulting legal work to Motta. Alfortish once had an office in Kenner with an address that Motta listed as her workplace.

Motta’s attorney, Dane Ciolino, acknowledged to The Times Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate that federal investigators have spoken to his client about a previous staged accident case and that charging documents do refer to Motta as Attorney B. But, Ciolino maintains Motta’s innocence and noted that the court records stop short of referring to her as a co-conspirator.

According to news sources, the staged accident indictments came about three years after Alfortish finished serving 28 months in federal prison. He pled guilty to rigging an election for the presidency of a nonprofit association for horse racing pros and track workers and to misspending some of the group’s money as president. The guilty plea in that case cost Alfortish his law license.