Overview
Arrogance and Accords is the tale of the largest commercial corruption case in U.S. history. Between 1994 and 1997, eighteen former executives of American Honda Motor Company, along with four other people, were convicted on federal fraud and racketeering charges. Over a 15-year period, the gang of greedy Honda officials had received over $50 million in cash and gifts from automobile dealers eager to obtain additional hot-selling Honda cars and franchises. The ill-gotten booty included briefcases stuffed with up to $750,000 in cash, palatial homes, luxury German automobiles, secret ownerships in dealerships, and Hong Kong shopping sprees.When the auto market softened in the early 1990s, the high-rolling officials, led by Honda's charismatic national sales manager, switched to embezzling money from the corporation. Honda belatedly fired the officials in 1992 and kept the scandal under wraps - until a small-town Assistant U.S. Attorney decided to investigate.
Arrogance and Accords is both a true-crime story and a look inside one of the world's most respected companies. It details the key characters and their shady deals, along with the internal and FBI investigations, and reveals the corporate culture that allowed the pandemic payola to flourish for so long.
Written by Steve Lynch, a former top Honda marketing executive, Arrogance and Accords is an insightful, often hilarious story of greed, ignored whistle-blowers, unethical lawyers, and the raucous federal trial of two of the Honda managers who decided to fight the charges.
The inside story of the largest commercial corruption case in U.S. history.