Former New Orleans Personal Injury Attorney Sentenced in Connection with Staged Accident Probe
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA / Friday, October 16, 2026 – DANNY PATRICK KEATING, JR., age 57, of New Orleans, was sentenced on October 15, 2026 for Conspiracy to Commit Mail and Wire Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, arising out of staged automobile accidents with tractor-trailers occurring in New Orleans, announced United States Attorney David I. Courcelle.
KEATING was indicted on November 5, 2020, and charged with knowingly engaging in a vast conspiracy involving the intentional staging of motor vehicle collisions with tractor-trailers and commercial vehicles in the metropolitan New Orleans area. Thus far, sixty-three (63) defendants have been charged in the federal probe into the staging of such collisions.
KEATING was a personal injury attorney licensed to practice law in Louisiana. At the time of his plea on June 17, 2021, KEATING admitted he knowingly paid Damian Labeaud for thirty-one (31) illegally staged tractor-trailer accidents. KEATING represented seventy-seven (77) plaintiffs involved in the thirty-one (31) accidents staged by Labeaud. KEATING settled seventeen (17) of the thirty-one (31) staged accidents. The indictment charged that KEATING and his clients received a total of approximately $1,500,000.00 in settlement monies resulting from his representation of these clients, and that KEATING kept approximately $358,000.00 of these monies as his attorney’s fees.
KEATING admitted filing lawsuits in state and federal court in Louisiana, on behalf of his clients who were involved in the staged accidents. The lawsuits he filed on behalf of the seventy-seven (77) plaintiffs fraudulently misrepresented the identity of the driver of these vehicles, fraudulently misrepresented who was at fault in the staged accidents, and fraudulently claimed injuries. KEATING used the U.S Postal Service to mail settlement demands on behalf of his clients from the Eastern District of Louisiana to various out-of-state locations. In many cases, KEATING’s clients provided false testimony in depositions taken in conjunction with lawsuits filed by KEATING.
United States District Judge Nanette Jolivette Brown sentenced KEATING to thirty-two (32) months of imprisonment, followed by three (3) years of supervised release, as well as the payment of $657,405.34 in restitution, and a $100.00 mandatory special assessment fee.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louisiana State Police, and the Metropolitan Crime Commission with this matter. The prosecution of this case was handled by Brian M. Klebba, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and Chief of the Financial Crimes Unit, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Payne, Edward J. Rivera, Maria Carboni, and U.S. Department of Justice Trial Attorney Ryan J. McLaren.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“Fraud Division”). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.
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Contact
Shane M. Jones
Public Information Officer
United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Louisiana
United States Department of Justice
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana
