Grand Jury Indicts New Orleans Attorney in Staged Accident Probe

November 10, 2020

A New Orleans personal injury attorney has been indicted in connection with a widespread probe in to a series of staged accidents in Louisiana between personal and commercial vehicles.

United States Attorney Peter G. Strasser said Danny Patrick Keating, Jr., age 51, was charged in a one-count federal indictment with Conspiracy to Commit Mail and Wire Fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.

If convicted, Keating faces a maximum term of five years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000.00 or twice the gross gain to the defendant or twice the gross loss to any person of the offense under Title 18, United States Code, Section 3571. He also faces a term of supervised release up to three years after his release from prison.

Keating is the 33rd defendant charged in the federal probe into the intentional staging of motor vehicle accidents with tractor-trailers and commercial vehicles in the metropolitan New Orleans area. Eleven of the 33 indicted defendants have tendered guilty pleas in federal court, so far.

According to the indictment announced Nov. 5, Keating was charged with conspiring with Damian Labeaud and others to defraud insurance companies, commercial carriers, and trucking companies in a scheme involving intentionally staging automobile accidents.

Labeaud allegedly referred staged accidents to Keating and other New Orleans personal injury attorneys referenced in the indictment as Attorneys A, B, and C, for $1,000.00 per passenger for accidents involving tractor-trailers and $500.00 per passenger for accidents not involving tractor-trailers.

Keating knowingly paid Labeaud for thirty-one (31) illegally staged tractor-trailer accidents, according to the indictment. He represented 77 plaintiffs involved in the 31 accidents staged by Labeaud and settled 17 of them 31. The indictment charges that Keating and his 77 clients received approximately $1,500,000.00 in settlements and that Keating kept approximately $358,000.00 in attorney’s fees.

In announcing the indictment, U.S. Attorney Strasser stressed that the indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office acknowledged the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louisiana State Police, and the Metropolitan Crime Commission with this matter. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian M. Klebba, Supervisor of the Financial Crimes Unit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Rivera, Assistant U.S. Attorney Shirin Hakimzadeh, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Carboni.

Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

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