Guilty Plea in Honda Kickback Scheme

A former American Honda regional sales manager from New York pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges of conspiring to obstruct justice.

Larry C. Finley, 49, the Torrance-based auto importer’s eastern Regional sales manager until he resigned in April, admitted accepting nearly $300,000 in kickbacks for preferential treatment of Honda dealers in Florida, Indiana, New Jersey, New York and Maine during his 19-year tenure with the company. Finley became the 13th executive to plead guilty to felony charges in an ongoing Justice Department investigation of bribery and racketeering among American Honda managers.

So far, 16 former top sales executives, including three from Orange County, have been charged, and Justice Department officials say more charges are anticipated. The abuses reportedly took place during the 1980s and early 1990s, when Honda dealers in the United States often could not get enough cars from Japan to satisfy consumer demand.

The top-ranking former executive to be indicted is Stanley James Cardiges, a Laguna Niguel resident who was American Honda’s senior vice president for sales until he resigned in 1992. Cardiges has denied the charges. Trial in his case is scheduled to begin in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire on Nov. 1.