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# SM Honda defendants etch a deal
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/sm-honda-defendants-etch-a-deal/
- Published: 2006-04-27T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:40:01.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: Crime, Downtown, #archive-import

*No jail time for last two defendants*

DOWNTOWN LA — The last two defendants in the Honda of Santa Monica fraud case cut a deal with prosecutors this week, ending a nearly three-year investigation into the dealership that bilked thousands of dollars from its customers.

Yaser Alkasem and Thomas Holterhoff, who faced felony counts of grand theft for overcharging customers at Honda of Santa Monica, each pleaded no contest on Monday to one misdemeanor. Alkasem pleaded no contest to being an accessory after the fact, while Holterhoff pleaded no contest to making false and misleading statements. They both received three years of probation and were fined $100 apiece in restitution penalties, according to prosecutors.

Alkasem, 43, who was named a co-conspirator in the case, turned himself in earlier this year and cooperated with prosecutors. He only worked at the dealership for a few months while the scam took place. Holterhoff, 63, the former general manager, played a small role, prosecutors said. “(Alkasem) cooperated right from the start,” said Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Dana Aratani. “With Holterhoff, admittedly, it was a weak case, but we felt we had enough evidence. He was still general manager and we went under the ‘should have known’ theory. It appeared that it was really the finance managers who were responsible.”

The other four defendants — Ali Asghar Hussain, Hamid Reza Khaki, Yaprem Zohrab Yaralian and Ahtamet Uersunthornwattana — agreed to settlements in March.

Hussain, 37, who was director of finance at the dealership from December of 2000 to June 2002, pleaded no contest to 13 misdemeanor counts. Khaki, 38, who was finance manager from December 2000 to July 2002, pleaded no contest to six misdemeanor counts. Uersunthornwattana, 44, who was finance manager from January 2001 to August 2001, pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor counts. Yaralian, 39, pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor counts.

Under the terms of the settlement, multiple felony counts of grand theft that the defendants originally faced were reduced to misdemeanors for negligence, according to the DA’s office. The four defendants who settled in March will be required to pay nearly $10,000 in fines. They also will be on probation for the next three years.

Violation of probation, including any other misdemeanor arrests, may cause the defendants to be subject to spend six months in county jail for each misdemeanor count to which they have pleaded.

The alleged scam primarily involved finance managers tacking on charges of “theft etch” to customers’ contracts without their knowledge. Theft etch marks a vehicle’s parts with traceable numbers in the event of a theft. The after-market product would show up on the sales contract as a VT registration charge, which doesn’t exist, prosecutors said.

According to the felony complaint, 33 customers were bilked out of nearly $30,000 between 2001 and 2002, when all of the defendants worked in the finance and sales departments at the dealership, located at 1720 Santa Monica Blvd.

In addition, the Department of Motor Vehicles will have the option of revoking the defendants’ dealership business licenses, according to Deputy District Attorney Jeff McGrath, a prosecutor in the case.

Under a recent civil settlement, an estimated 1,500 customers who were ripped off can expect to be reimbursed in coming months by Sonic Automotive, Inc., the parent company of Honda of Santa Monica.

The settlement of the civil complaint, which was signed by a judge on Feb. 8, is separate from the criminal case. However, the fact that victims will receive restitution and that defendants will likely lose their business licenses led prosecutors to agree to a settlement, under which they believe justice has been served without having to go to trial.

“At this juncture, it got resolved without having to bring in all of the victims; it’s a satisfactory total package,” Aratani said.

Those who might be eligible for restitution are customers who purchased or leased a vehicle from the dealership between April 7, 2000 and Oct. 31, 2002.

Sonic Automotive Inc. has agreed to hire an outside firm to serve as an administrator in handling the reimbursements, which will determine how much each customer will receive. Aratani said the reimbursements range from $100 to $1,000, with the average claim being $400\. It’s estimated that Sonic Automotive Inc. will pay back about $829,000 in reimbursements.

Sonic Automotive Inc. has turned over a list of eligible customers to the DA’s office, which has been checked against its own internal list of names that stemmed from investigators’ probe into the dealership, Aratani said.

Sonic Automotive Inc. has until mid-May to notify customers that they are eligible for reimbursement. Customers must fill out the notice and release, and send it back within six months of the Feb. 8 judgment in order to be eligible. Once the claim has been sent in by the customer, Sonic Automotive Inc. has 30 days to send the reimbursement check, according to the settlement agreement.

The North Carolina-based automotive company has sent a check to the DA’s office for $548,000\. That’s for civil penalties and costs associated with violating provisions of the Business and Professions Code. Of that amount, $73,000 is for costs of the investigation.

The DA’s office launched its investigation into the dealership in July 2002, after an employee tipped investigators off to the alleged scam. The dealership was raided by investigators, including FBI agents, who seized boxes of files and computers from the finance and sales departments on Sept. 25, 2002.

The investigation was concluded last year when the DA’s office filed a felony complaint against six former employees, alleging they overcharged customers to pad their own commissions.

“We suspect that it happens at so many dealerships,” Aratani said, warning consumers to be careful of any after-market products attached to purchase agreements.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 27, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042706.pdf?ref=smdp.com)