Federal Trial Jury Convicts New Orleans Personal Injury Attorneys in Staged Collision Scheme

US Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana, March 20, 2026

Including this jury trial, sixty-three (63) defendants have been charged in the federal probe into the staging of automobile collisions with other vehicles in the New Orleans metropolitan area.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice announced that on Friday, March 20, 2026, VANESSA MOTTA (“MOTTA”), age 44, and JASON F. GILES (“GILES”), age 47, were found guilty of all charges pending against them, following a three-week jury trial presided over by Chief U.S. District Judge Wendy B. Vitter. The jury also convicted law firms MOTTA LAW LLC and THE KING FIRM LLC and co-conspirator DIAMANIKE F. STALBERT (“STALBERT”), age 35.

The jury found MOTTA, MOTTA LAW, GILES, THE KING FIRM guilty of all counts against them. STALBERT was found guilty of making false statements to federal agents.

Count 1 charged all five defendants with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 1349. Count 2 charged GILES and THE KING FIRM, and counts 4 and 5 charged MOTTA and MOTTA LAW with mail fraud, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 2. Count 6 charged MOTTA and MOTTA LAW, and count 8 charged GILES and THE KING FIRM, with obstruction of justice, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. §§ 1503(a), 2. Count 7 charged MOTTA and MOTTA LAW, and count 9 charged GILES and THE KING FIRM, with witness tampering in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(b)(1), 2. Count 10 charged STALBERT with making false statements to federal agents, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2).

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