NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – An FBI agent took the stand Tuesday for the prosecution in the federal trial over an alleged staged car crash scheme in New Orleans, as prosecutors say the operation drove up car insurance prices statewide.
Earlier Tuesday, the government played a recording they say injury attorney Jason Giles handed over to federal investigators after some of his alleged co-conspirators were indicted. On the recording, Giles spoke with an alleged participant in the scheme and denied knowing about staged wrecks.
“I’m (going to) lose my law license because they say I knew something was fraud. I didn’t,” Giles said on the recording.
The FBI agent testified the recording was a way for Giles to mount his defense.
Also on the recording, Giles called alleged slammer Damian Labeaud — who testified at trial last week — multiple expletives and said Labeaud lied to federal investigators.
“He’s a liar with this just path of destruction, cares about no one, put people’s lives at risk, and you think that this office would be a part of that because he said so?” Giles said on the recording.
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Labeaud maintained during his testimony that Giles knew he had been staging wrecks all along.
In court, Hollywood stuntwoman-turned-injury-lawyer Vanessa Motta’s defense attorney said Motta brought Cornelius Garrison, a murdered witness in the alleged staged crash scheme, to local attorney Brad Egenberg. Egenberg never got to represent Garrison after Garrison was served a subpoena in a separate civil case.
Prosecutors say Garrison was murdered after cooperating with the FBI in connection with the alleged staged wreck scheme. Prosecutors have said Motta told Garrison that Egenberg knew about the “construction,” a term the government says was code for the alleged car crash scheme. Motta’s attorney denied that allegation.
Federal investigators accuse Giles, Motta, the firms they worked for, and alleged co-conspirator Diamanike Stalbert of fraud-related charges. They are on trial in connection with a scheme to stage wrecks across New Orleans for years. The alleged scheme employed “slammers” who would crash into 18-wheelers for kickbacks and large insurance payouts.
The trial enters its third week. A legal analyst has said the trial could last the entire month of March.
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Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.