Disbarred attorney Sean Alfortish and another man, Leon “Chunky” Parker, have been indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to arrange and cause the death of an FBI informant. The indictment comes following a years long investigation called “Operation Sideswipe” which involves staged automobile accidents throughout the New Orleans area and the murder for hire of Cornelius Garrison. Garrison was cooperating with Federal Investigators into the scheme. The new indictment was returned on April 25, 2025.
To date, there have been 63 defendants charged in relation to the scheme, with nearly 50 defendants pleading guilty.
The New Indictment
According to the indictments, Garrison was a “slammer” in a scheme to defraud insurance companies by staging collisions with tractor trailer vehicles and referring the staged accidents to Alfortish, The Motta Law Firm, and The King Law Firm.
In October 2019, Mr. Garrison began working as an informant for the FBI regarding the staged automobile collisions. The indictment goes on to allege that Alfortish and his fiancée Vanessa Motta of the Motta Law Firm offered Garrison payment to move outside of the United States if he agreed not to cooperate with the federal criminal investigation into the staged automobile collisions.
Mr. Garrison was indicted on September 18, 2020, for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and aiding and abetting mail fraud related to the staged collision scheme. He was murdered a few days later on September 22, 2020, in front of his mother’s home.
In January 2025, Ryan Harris, one of the defendants in the staged automobile scheme, pled guilty to mail and wire fraud and causing the death of Garrison through the use of a firearm. In the Statement of Facts filed in connection with Harris’ guilty plea, the specifics of Garrison’s death, including that Leon Parker was the actual shooter, and that Sean Alfortish coordinated and paid Parker for the murder, were detailed.
Alfortish was already facing one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, three counts of obstruction of justice, and four counts of witness tampering, to which he pled not guilty. As of this writing, he had not yet entered a plea to one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
Status of Prosecutions
It remains to be seen whether there will be additional indictments related to Garrison’s murder or what additional information will come to light regarding Operation Sideswipe. Our Trucking and Transportation practice group are closely monitoring these prosecutions to provide our clients with the most up to date information as possible.