Karate-kicking her way across the screen in a smart gray suit, Vanessa Motta’s advert depicted her as a personal injury lawyer who meant business.
But it was the very business the stuntwoman-turned-attorney, 44, attracted that has forced her to swap her stunning $1.4 million New Orleans mansion for a federal prison.
Motta, who is a mother to two young daughters, could remain incarcerated until she is 64 after she was convicted in a federal court last Friday of helping to orchestrate a ‘cash-for-crash’ scheme.
One legal expert says one of the only possible ways for Motta to potentially shorten the predicted 20 year sentence would be to turn on her fiancé Sean Alfortish, the father of her toddler daughter.
Alfortish, a wealthy stable owner and lawyer, is charged with being a participant in the same scam and of orchestrating the murder of a federal informant who sought to blow the lid on it. He has pled not guilty to all the charges.
The couple’s breathtaking downfall has scandalized the upper echelons of New Orleans society, which counted the pair among its ranks until recently.
Motta’s scheme was shocking in its brazenness.
The lawyer paid for TV advertisements that blared ‘Car wreck? Injured? 18 wheeler?’
Motta is seen here alongside Alfortish and their daughter in an undated picture shared to social media
The town own a 5-bedroom, 7-bathroom mansion in the Lake Vista neighborhood in the city where the phony collisions were carried out
It appealed for victims to get in touch on the number ‘500-PAIN’ and concluded with a close-up shot of Motta poised for combat, with the catchphrase ‘Send ‘er in!’
The attention-grabbing commercial was interspersed with clips of Motta’s work as a Hollywood stuntwoman on movies including Jurassic World and Furious 7.
It is unclear whether Motta’s years spent working in the Hollywood land of make believe inspired the $10 million scam that has shattered her life.
The yearslong scheme began shortly after Motta set up her New Orleans firm in 2017, two years after she graduated from law school in Miami, where she was raised.
Cash began to roll in, with Motta using the fruits of her labor to treat herself to a gorgeous five-bed, seven bathroom mansion.
She soon found herself under surveillance as part of the FBI’s Operation Sideswipe, which has secured 50 cash-for-crash convictions since 2019, Nola.com first reported.
Motta and another lawyer, Jason Giles, were the first lawyers to go on trial over the conspiracy both were involved in, with Giles also convicted last week.
Their scam involved two teams known as spotters and slammers.
Motta is seen here thrown a round house kick in a promotional video shared to her firms YouTube page
Motto ran a series of billboards around the city in the hopes of luring in clients, while also staging crashes
Motta is seen here alongside her partner Alfortish, who has denied any wrongdoing in relation to both the scams and the death of a witness
It might be some time before Motta sets foot back inside the family home as she could now face 20 years behind bars
Spotters would cruise around the streets of New Orleans eyeing up 18-wheelers and other commercial vehicles.
After finding the vehicles, they would then alert slammers who would purposefully drive their cars into the big rigs.
The slammers would flee the scene after the collision, while others inside the vehicle would pretend to be its driver and lie about what had happened.
Fake witnesses were even provided to back up the fake driver’s lies about the trucker being to blame, according to a federal indictment seen by the Daily Mail.
The crooks would go on to make personal injury claims against the truckers, with Motta and her cronies netting a hefty chunk of the subsequent payouts.
Motta’s lawyer Sean Toomey told the trial that she had no idea that she was caught up in such a scheme. The jury didn’t buy her excuse and found her guilty.
Motta says she plans to appeal her conviction. She stands to be permanently disbarred from practicing law should that appeal fail.
Motta is seen here posing in front of a car wreck in a promotional image for her business that she posted to the firm’s Instagram
Motta and Alfortish are seen here with their daughter in a pictured shared to social media
US District Chief Judge Wendy Vitter took a dim view of Motta’s antics, trashing the disgraced lawyer’s claims she had no idea of what was being done in her name.
‘I have no reason whatsoever to believe she is naive or under the influence of anyone else.’ Vitter said in court after the conviction came back last Friday.
‘In fact, I believe Ms. Motta knew exactly what she was doing at all times.’
Former federal prosecutor Michael Magner, who is not involved in the case, told Nola.com that Vitter’s scathing words hint at Motta being in line for the maximum punishment when she is sentenced in July.
Motta is being held in custody until then, far from the luxurious trappings of her old life.
Magner opined that [said] there are two ways in which Motta’s sentence could potentially be reduced.
He said Vitter may take pity on Motta as the mother to a toddler, with her youngest daughter born in 2024.
Motta may also be able to reduce her sentence if she is willing to provide potential evidence against the father of that toddler – her fiancé Sean Alfortish.
Motta is seen here in her federal mugshot after being found guilty. Garrison is pictured on the right
In 2011 Alfortish, seen here with Motta, was disbarred and went to prison in connection with a rigged election
Magner says that may not work either, explaining: ‘The government may conclude that they do not need her cooperation to obtain convictions in the next trial.’
Alfortish will stand trial in August on charges linked to the cash for crash scam and of conspiring to murder Cornelius Garrison III. He denies all allegations made against him.
Garrison, a runner in the cash-for-crash scheme, was murdered in 2020 days after being indicted over the fraud scheme.
He was serving as an informant and was considered a key prosecution witness.
Garrison introduced Alfortish to the crash-for-cash scheme, according to federal prosecutors.
Another defendant Ryan Harris already pleaded guilty in the plot, claiming it was Alfortish who arranged the killing and paid a man named Leon ‘Chunky’ Parker to carry it out.
Harris agreed to a 35-year sentence in the plot in exchange for his cooperation, directly implicating Alfortish and alleged triggerman Parker.
Alfortish pleaded not guilty in court last year to all the charges against him. The Daily Mail has approached his attorney for further comment.
Under federal law killing a federal witness is punishable by death or life behind bars.
In court earlier this month Harris testified that it was Motta who worked with him in filing the bogus claims. Motta was never charged in connection with the death of Garrison.
And while her greed may have bought her the trappings of wealth and success, it now means her toddler daughter faces growing up without her mother – and possibly her father too.
