The Utah-based motor carrier C.R. England has launched a major Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, or RICO, civil lawsuit. They have alleged that a law firm within New Orleans, and a group of six co-conspirators, have been paid a total of $4.7m in fraudulent settlements for a staged accident that took place in 2015.
The lawsuit, which takes up some 98 pages in total, contains details which have been made open in public for the first time. They claim that “criminal enterprise” groups have been involved in some 150 staged accidents using tractor-trailers in the New Orleans area. They also claim that this took place over a 3-year period, from 2015 until 2018. So far, some 33 individuals have been indicted as part of the scheme, with 15 pleading guilty of participation in staged incidents. This is part of a wider ongoing FBI investigation, as well as a federal grand jury investigation, into the incidents.
In the lawsuit itself, it is stated that: “It is believed that while this RICO complaint is pending, many more indictments will be filed, guilty pleas will be entered and additional staged accidents will be identified, thereby publicly identifying additional actors and participants in this criminal enterprise,”
What happens now?
Should the lawsuit go forward and succeed, then this RICO lawsuit could result in triple monetary damages being awarded to the lawsuit. RICO cases, enacted since 1970, have become a way for the enforcement of severe criminal penalties for acts which take place as part of a organized, ongoing form of criminal enterprise.
As part of the lawsuit, the following were names as defendants in the case: Jason Giles, The King Firm, Giles Law, Damian Lebeaud, Roderick Hickman, Anthony Robinson, Audrey Harris, Jerry Schaffer and Keishira Robinson.
The claim in the lawsuit alleges that the group above were conspiring to stage accidents involved tractor-trailers to help defraud England and ACE American, the insurance company, through claims of false bodily injury. Three of the four ‘ringleaders’ of the staged accidents have chosen to plead guilty; a fourth ‘ringleader’ was murdered two weeks prior to their plea hearing, the lawsuit informs.
The vast majority of those who were alleged to have taken part were New Orleans residents. The scheme is believed to have involved the mention of severe damage, medical treatment, and even legal referrals – these would be included as part of a false claim that included spinal injections, lumbar fusions, and other extensive (and expensive) treatment options.
Indeed, one claim made clear that future treatments would cost as much as $7.7m in treatment fees. More is likely to come out in future regarding this case, with the lawsuit set to go further as individual cases and testimonies are looked at in closer detail to determine just how real – and, if so, how extensive – the claims have been.
Citation
https://www.ttnews.com/articles/cr-england-files-rico-lawsuit-new-orleans-staged-accident
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