New Orleans Attorney Sentenced for Staged Truck Crashes
A federal judge in New Orleans sentenced Danny Patrick Keating Jr., 57, to 32 months in prison for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud tied to staged collisions with tractor-trailers, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana said. Keating, a former personal-injury attorney, was indicted November 5, 2020, and pleaded guilty June 17, 2021. He admitted paying Damian Labeaud for 31 staged tractor-trailer accidents and representing 77 plaintiffs from those crashes. He settled 17 of the 31 staged wrecks, generating about $1.5 million in settlements, of which he kept roughly $358,000 in fees, according to the release. Keating admitted the lawsuits he filed misrepresented who was driving, who was at fault, and the injuries claimed, and that clients gave false deposition testimony. He used the Postal Service to mail settlement demands out of state. U.S. District Judge Nanette Jolivette Brown ordered three years of supervised release, $657,405.34 in restitution, and a $100 special assessment. The release notes 63 defendants have now been charged in the broader federal probe into staged collisions in the New Orleans area.
What's next
- Watch the Eastern District of Louisiana's broader staged-accident probe, which has now charged 63 defendants, for additional sentencings.
- No appeal or further proceedings for Keating are mentioned in the release.
All sources
- Former New Orleans Personal Injury Attorney Sentenced in Connection with Staged Accident Probe — Government site: U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana (U.S. Department of Justice), 2026-10-15
