SM BOULEVARD — It’s been nearly 18 months since Honda of Santa Monica was raided by investigators, and no arrests have been made in the alleged fraud scheme.
Dozens of investigators with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Consumer Protection Division seized boxes of files in Honda of Santa Monica’s finance and sales departments in a surprise raid on Sept. 25, 2002.
On the same day of the raid, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the dealership in downtown Los Angeles Superior Court alleging several customers were ripped off by the dealership, which is located at 1720 Santa Monica Blvd. That suit is now on hold, pending the outcome of the investigation, said Dan Hoffman, who is handling the case.
DA spokeswoman Jane Robison said the investigation is ongoing but wouldn’t elaborate on how much longer it will take.
“It’s a huge investigation, there are thousands of documents and a whole bunch of people to talk to,” Robison said, adding it’s not unusual that investigations drag on this long.
“It’s a huge investigation, there are thousands of documents and a whole bunch of people to talk to.” — — JANE ROBISON DA Spokeswoman
Investigators from the consumer protection division during the raid didn’t say exactly what was contained in the documents for which they searched.
The civil lawsuit alleged the dealership’s top sales people — who have since been fired — had been conducting a scam in which
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 23, 2004. Read the original PDF.