Trucking companies targeted in staged-accident insurance fraud scheme
Twenty-eight individuals have been charged over the course of the last 11 months for intentionally staging automobile accidents to defraud trucking companies and their insurance providers, according to press releases from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Seven of the 28 individuals charged have since pleaded guilty.
Indictments allege that five of the 28 individuals charged were “slammers” who intentionally caused accidents to defraud trucking companies and their insurance providers in the New Orleans metro area. Others among the 28 individuals facing charges were passengers in vehicles used to stage accidents.
One of the so-called “slammers” was Cornelius Garrison, 54, of New Orleans, who was charged Sept. 18 with staging more than 50 accidents and allegedly was paid more than $150,000 by an unnamed co-conspirator.
