Ex-Honda Dealer Pleads Guilty in Bribery Probe : Investigation: Peter Epsteen also agrees to testify against three of the auto importer’s former executives, including a Laguna Hills man.

For the second time in a week, a figure in the American Honda bribery probe has pleaded guilty to federal charges and agreed to testify against three of the Torrance-based auto importer’s former top executives in their upcoming fraud and racketeering trial.

Peter Epsteen, 66, former owner of a series of Southern California auto dealerships, including Beverly Hills Honda, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Concord, N.H., to lying to a federal grand jury during its 1993 probe of the bribery and kickback scheme. He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

In all, 20 people--17 former American Honda executives, two former dealers and the owner of an Orange County advertising agency--have been charged in the case, and all but three have pleaded guilty. The trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 7 for the remaining three, including Laguna Hills resident Stanley James Cardiges, American Honda’s senior vice president for sales from 1988 until 1992.

Epsteen, a resident of Rancho Mirage, near Palm Springs, admitted in court that he lied when he told the grand jury that $240,000 in cash payments he made during 1988 to John Billmyer, then American Honda’s senior vice president for sales, were for consulting services. He also admitted to lying about not paying for a $19,000 swimming pool and spa at Billmyer’s Palm Springs vacation home.

In fact, Epsteen said in court Wednesday, he made the payments in return for favorable treatment from Billmyer, a North Carolina resident and a co-defendant in the upcoming trial, including increased allotments of Honda’s most popular models and preferential treatment when the auto company awarded new franchises.

Federal prosecutors have said that American Honda was victimized by a corps of rogue executives and did not participate in or condone the kickback scheme.

Last week, Yorba Linda advertising executive Gary Donald Josleyn, 46, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud for sending a $100,000 check to Cardiges, who replaced Billmyer as American Honda’s senior vice president for sales and who held the post from 1988 until he quietly resigned in 1992 as the bribery probe got underway.

Josleyn’s brother, Dennis, was West Coast sales manager for American Honda and has been indicted in the case as well.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael J. Connolly said Wednesday that both Epsteen and Gary Josleyn have agreed to testify at the upcoming trial.

Billmyer could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Cardiges’ attorney said last week that his client “continues to maintain his innocence.”

Gary Josleyn owned a Yorba Linda advertising agency that received most of its business from American Honda. He placed the agency into bankruptcy in 1992 when Honda shifted its advertising to other agencies.

Cardiges, Billmyer and Dennis Josleyn, a Northern California resident, are scheduled to stand trial Feb. 7 in New Hampshire for their roles in the kickback scheme that federal prosecutors said involved dealers and American Honda executives in 30 states and netted participants more than $10 million in illegal payments.

The executives allegedly funneled Hondas and the company’s luxury Acuras to select dealers at a time when the cars were in high demand and short supply, prosecutors said.