The U.S. auto executive at the center of a $15 million Honda kickback and bribery scheme entered a surprise guilty plea yesterday, moments before the start of his trial in New Hampshire on federal racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud charges.
Stanley James Cardiges of Laguna Hills, Calif., former senior vice president of sales for American Honda Motor Co., admitted he took payoffs from Honda dealers for more than a decade in return for preferential treatment, but he maintained his co-defendants had orchestrated the scheme.
Cardiges had been accused of accepting about $5 million in cash payments and goods, such as five Rolex watches, six new automobiles, a woman's fur coat, expensive business suits, $25,000 in furniture and a $25,000 down payment for a California ski resort vacation home.
Under the agreement, Cardiges faces up to 35 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. But he has agreed to cooperate fully with federal investigators, a move that is expected to reduce his sentence substantially.
The trial against co-defendants John Billmyer, 65, of Raleigh, N.C., and Dennis Josleyn, 47, of Penn Valley, Calif., has been postponed until Feb. 22 to give prosecutors time to interview Cardiges and to give the other defendants a chance to prepare rebuttals.
Cardiges, 49, is the 16th former American Honda official to plead guilty to felony charges arising from what Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Connolly said yesterday was a continuing probe into business dealings that lasted throughout most of the 1980s and involved Honda officials and dealers in 30 states.