Louisiana staged-accident attorney Danny Keating sentenced to 32 months in Operation Sideswipe case

A New Orleans attorney who helped run the Louisiana staged-accident scheme known as Operation Sideswipe was sentenced on Thursday to 32 months in federal prison, more than five years after he pleaded guilty, according to FreightWaves on Oct. 16.

Danny Keating's sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release, and he must pay $657,405.34 in restitution. He pleaded guilty in June 2021 — the only attorney in the case to plead guilty — and has cooperated with prosecutors since then, serving as a key witness in the March convictions of fellow attorneys Vanessa Motta and Jason Giles, who still await sentencing.

In his plea, Keating admitted paying fellow ringleader Damian Labeaud for 31 tractor-trailer crashes and representing 77 plaintiffs involved in the staged collisions, in which cars full of participants intentionally collided with other vehicles, usually tractor-trailers, around New Orleans. The U.S. Attorney's Office said 63 defendants have been charged in the federal probe so far. The U.S. Attorney's Office said payouts in the staged collisions totaled about $1.5 million for plaintiffs represented by Keating, of which he kept about $358,000.

Prosecutors had asked the court to hold the sentence to two years, citing Keating's cooperation, while his attorney asked for probation, citing his cooperation and poor health. The 32-month term is above what prosecutors sought but below the federal sentencing guidelines of 57 to 60 months reported by NOLA.com. Keating must report to prison by Jan. 11, 2027.

Labeaud's sentencing, also delayed repeatedly, is now set for Dec. 3. The sentencing lands as Congress weighs the Staged Accident Fraud Prevention Act, H.R. 2662, which would create federal criminal penalties for intentionally staging accidents involving commercial vehicles — a bill trucking associations pressed members of Congress on in district visits covered in this morning's edition.