By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-07 21:51:52 | Updated at 2025-01-08 18:34:29
20 hours ago
A former stuntwoman-turned-attorney has been charged for her role in an alleged scheme to stage car crashes for insurance payouts.
Vanessa Motta, 43, pleaded not guilty in federal court on Monday and was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond, reported NOLA.com.
The U.S. Attorney's Office indicted Motta in December for fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering in a staged automobile collision scheme throughout the New Orleans area.
Motta and her fiancé, disbarred attorney Sean Alfortish, are accused of knowingly representing those who staged the crashes and pursuing fraudulent insurance claims, according to WWLTV.
The former stuntwoman worked in the entertainment industry for over 18 years, then obtained her law degree in 2015, her website stated.
She worked on blockbuster films such as Jurassic World, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Friday the 13th, according to IMDB.
Motta opened her own law firm in 2017 and has 'represented numerous clients in cases involving Personal Injury, Car Accidents, Insurance Claims, Property Damage, and more.'
The blockbuster indictment claimed several individuals schemed to intentionally staged automobile collisions with other vehicles in the New Orleans metropolitan area dating back to 2011.
Vanessa Motta (pictured), 43, has been charged for her role in an alleged scheme to stage car crashes for insurance payouts
Motta and her fiancé, disbarred attorney Sean Alfortish, are accused of knowingly representing those who staged the crashes
Some of the participants, called slammers, would drive the cars along with a passenger and intentionally collide with 18-wheeler tractor-trailers and other commercial vehicles.
After the crash, the slammers would flee the scene and the passenger would falsely claim to have been driving at the time of the collision.
Other individuals, called spotters, would drive getaway cars that allowed the slammers to flee the scene after causing the collision. Some spotters would pretend to eyewitnesses to the crashes.
Motta is accused of committing various acts of obstruction of justice and witness tampering to cover-up the illegal collision scheme when they learned of the federal investigation in 2019.
Around October 2019, one slammer named Cornelius Garrison began covertly cooperating with the federal government.
Prosecutors claim Motta conspired to manipulate Garrison to make false statements to investigators and offered to pay for him to moved out of the United States if he stopped cooperating with investigators.
However, Garrison was shot and killed in the doorway of his mother's house in September 2020.
Fellow slammer Ryan Harris has been accused of murdering Garrison to stop his cooperation with the government.
She worked on blockbuster films such as Jurassic World, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Friday the 13th
Motta opened her own law firm in 2017. She is accused of committing various acts of obstruction of justice and witness tampering
Motta's attorney, Sean Toomey, told local news outlets his client is 'completely innocent of any wrongdoing.'
The Louisiana Supreme Court temporarily suspended Motta's law license in December.
A trial date has been scheduled for March 17.
