A federal judge sentenced Danny Patrick Keating Jr. to 32 months in the New Orleans staged 18-wheeler crash fraud scheme.

Thirty-two months is the prison term a federal court imposed after a guilty plea. It is not a pending charge. Keating admitted he paid a crash "slammer" to stage collisions into 18-wheelers and then represented plaintiffs in the resulting insurance lawsuits. The judge credited substantial cooperation but said the government's two-year request was too generous given the fraud's impact. Co-defendants Jason Giles and Vanessa Motta were convicted at trial and have not been sentenced.

The Times-Picayune / NOLA.com, WDSU, and FOX 8 reported that U.S. District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, sentenced Danny Patrick Keating Jr., 57, a former New Orleans personal-injury attorney, to 32 months in federal custody followed by three years of supervised release. The sentence followed Keating's 2021 guilty plea to a conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. Brown also ordered him to pay about $657,000 in restitution and to report to prison by Jan. 11, 2027.

Federal prosecutors said Keating helped orchestrate staged crashes into big-rig trucks so drivers and passengers could pursue insurance payouts. Keating admitted he paid cooperating witness Damian Labeaud to stage 31 accidents and that he represented 77 plaintiffs from those collisions. Reporting said the crashes often targeted New Orleans East and Gentilly corridors near truck stops. Keating surrendered his law license after his 2020 indictment.

NOLA.com reported that the advisory guideline range was 57 to 60 months and that prosecutors asked for two years based on Keating's cooperation. Brown called that recommendation "a bit generous" and said Keating's fraud totaled about $1.5 million. She credited "substantial" assistance against other defendants, including testimony that helped convict attorneys Jason Giles and Vanessa Motta at a March trial. Motta and Giles have not been sentenced, WDSU reported.

At sentencing, Keating expressed remorse and said he betrayed his personal values and his oath as an attorney. His lawyer sought probation, citing cooperation and health issues. An insurance-defense attorney who helped build the federal case urged a stricter sentence, saying lawyers had crossed from exaggerating claims into fabricating accidents. The prison term is the judgment entered on the plea. It is not a finding against defendants who have not been sentenced. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.