A disbarred attorney could face decades in prison after he was found guilty on multiple counts connected to a staged semi truck crash operation that took place in New Orleans.
On September 3, 2026, a Louisiana jury convicted Sean Alfortish on charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering related to a “years-long scheme to defraud trucking and insurance companies.”
The jury was unable to reach a verdict for Alfortish and codefendant Leon Parker on the 2020 murder of Cornelius Garrison, III, who was cooperating with the FBI investigation into the staged crash fraud scheme. Prior to working with federal authorities, Garrison participated in the scheme as a “slammer.”
The jury found Alfortish not guilty on two counts related to bribing an inmate of the St. Charles Parish Jail to lie under oath.
Alfortish faces a total statutory sentence of up to 90 years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Officials said that prior to Garrison’s murder, Alfortish offered to move him out of the country and tried convince him to take the fall for the staged crash scheme in exchange for $500,000.
“Today’s verdict is an important step towards justice for the victims of this scheme,” said U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle. “Alfortish and Parker exploited the courts to benefit themselves and their confederates. The jury’s verdict demonstrates the dedication of the Department of Justice to preserving the integrity of our justice system.”
“The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office worked hundreds of hours to make sure justice would be done for Mr. Garrison and his family, and for the people of Louisiana,” said Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI New Orleans Field Office. “We will continue our work to expose criminal wrongdoing, undeterred.”
A total of sixty-three defendants, including multiple law firms, have been charged in connection with the New Orleans staged crash scheme. Many of the defendants have pleaded guilty.
Federal authorities outlined how the scheme worked when the superseding indictment against Alfortish was returned in 2025. See below.
“The scheme included individuals who rode in automobiles as passengers knowing they would be part of staged collisions. Those individuals later lied as part of fraudulent insurance claims and fraudulent lawsuits based on the staged collisions. Additionally, the scheme included individuals who drove automobiles and intentionally collided with 18-wheeler tractor-trailers and other commercial vehicles, to stage collisions (“slammers”). After the staged collisions, the slammers would flee the scene, and a passenger would falsely claim to have been driving at the time of the collision … The scheme included individuals (“spotters”) who drove getaway cars that allowed the slammers to flee the scene after causing a collision and evade detection by law enforcement. The spotters would sometimes also pretend to be eyewitnesses and would flag down the commercial vehicles after the staged collisions, alleging that the commercial vehicles were at fault.“
