Prosecutors say they paid ‘slammers’ to intentionally crash into tractor-trailers and file fraudulent lawsuits Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox A federal jury in New Orleans has found two personal injury attorneys guilty of involving themselves in a scheme to stage collisions with 18-wheelers and then collect settlement payouts. The lawyers, Jason Giles and former Hollywood stuntwoman Vanessa Motta, were found guilty on Friday of fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, local news outlets WVUE and WWL Louisiana – a Guardian reporting partner – reported. Their law firms were convicted of related charges. Continue reading...
SRCThe Guardian - World News
LANGEN
LEANCenter-Left
WORDS105
ENT7
FRI · 2026-03-20 · 23:44 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0321-26514
NSR-2026-0321-26514News Report·EN·Legal & Judicial
New Orleans attorneys found guilty in plot to stage vehicle accidents for payouts
In New Orleans, attorneys Jason Giles and Vanessa Motta were found guilty by a federal jury on Friday for their involvement in a scheme to stage vehicle accidents with tractor-trailers. Prosecutors alleged that the attorneys paid individuals, referred to as "slammers," to intentionally cause collisions with 18-wheelers.
Guardian staffThe Guardian - World NewsFiled 2026-03-20 · 23:44 GMTLean · Center-LeftRead · 1 min
The Guardian - World NewsFIG 01
Reading time
1min
Word count
105words
Sources cited
2cited
Entities identified
7entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01
Briefing Summary
AI-generatedNEWSAR · AI
In New Orleans, attorneys Jason Giles and Vanessa Motta were found guilty by a federal jury on Friday for their involvement in a scheme to stage vehicle accidents with tractor-trailers. Prosecutors alleged that the attorneys paid individuals, referred to as "slammers," to intentionally cause collisions with 18-wheelers. Following these staged accidents, the attorneys then filed fraudulent lawsuits to obtain settlement payouts. Giles and Motta were convicted of fraud, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. Their law firms were also convicted on related charges. The scheme aimed to defraud insurance companies through fabricated accident claims.
Confidence 0.85Sources 2Claims 4Entities 7
§ 02
Article analysis
Model · rule-basedFraming
Legal & Judicial
Economic Impact
Tone
Measured
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.90 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
2
Limited
FewMany
§ 03
Key claims
4 extracted01
The lawyers collected settlement payouts from staged collisions with 18-wheelers.
factual
Confidence
1.00
02
Prosecutors say they paid ‘slammers’ to intentionally crash into tractor-trailers.
factualProsecutors
Confidence
1.00
03
Jason Giles and Vanessa Motta were found guilty of fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
factualWVUE and WWL Louisiana
Confidence
1.00
04
A federal jury in New Orleans found two personal injury attorneys guilty.
factual
Confidence
1.00
§ 04
Full report
1 min read · 105 words§ 05
Entities
7 identified§ 06
Keywords & salience
9 termsinsurance fraud
0.90
vehicle accidents
0.80
fraudulent lawsuits
0.80
personal injury attorneys
0.70
settlement payouts
0.70
obstruction of justice
0.60
witness tampering
0.60
staged collisions
0.50
new orleans
0.50
§ 07
Topic connections
Interactive graph No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.