Johnny Carson Denies Cocaine Trafficking Allegation Made by John Delorean (May 26, 1984)

'The Statements . . . Are Totally False'
By Jay Mathews
May 26, 1984
Celebrity auto maker John Z. DeLorean bragged in 1980 that he once participated in a drug-trafficking scheme with television host Johnny Carson, a key government informer in DeLorean's cocaine conspiracy trial testified today.

The witness, James T. Hoffman, an aircraft broker and convicted drug smuggler, said DeLorean made the statement to him when they were neighbors in northern San Diego County. He said he did not believe the statement then and still does not, but thought DeLorean might have had cocaine dealings with other unidentified celebrities.

DeLorean's attorney, Howard Weitzman, saying he was stunned to hear Hoffman use Carson's name in answer to one of his questions, called the story "an absolute, total, complete, 1,000 percent lying fabrication." He added that it probably helped DeLorean's case by showing that Hoffman, considered crucial to the case against the 59-year-old millionaire, is "absolutely incredible, he'll say anything."


Carson's attorney, Henry Bushkin, quickly issued a statement saying, "There is absolutely no truth to these allegations.

"The only involvement Mr. Carson ever had with John DeLorean was an ill-fated stock investment in the DeLorean auto company. Mr. Carson was shocked when he heard that his name had been dragged into this trial and said the reports of his involvement were totally false."

Bushkin said Carson, host of NBC's "Tonight Show," invested $500,000 in DeLorean's sports car company before its Northern Ireland plant was closed in October, 1982, in the same week DeLorean was arrested here for allegedly attempting to save the company with profits from sale of $24 million in cocaine.

During the taping of his show this afternoon, Carson said, "I've been trying to contain my anger most of the day . . . . The statements . . . about me are totally false, and beyond that there is nothing further to say."


Carson knew DeLorean and purchased one of the first DeLorean sports cars, but has frequently made barbed jokes on his show about the auto maker and his car since DeLorean's arrest. Bushkin told reporters that DeLorean and Carson have not spoken in 2 1/2 years.

Hoffman, 43, a stocky, graying man with a soft voice, has testified that DeLorean asked him to funnel $2 million into a drug-trafficking scheme that would return a quick $40 million profit.

DeLorean's attorneys charge that Hoffman lied about this initial, unrecorded approach and then helped federal agents illegally entrap DeLorean in later meetings captured on videotape.

Weitzman spent most of today challenging Hoffman on inconsistencies between his grand jury and trial testimony, but the Carson statement drew the most attention in a trial awash with name-dropping.


Referring to Hoffman's earlier testimony that DeLorean said he acquired funds for his company through drug trafficking with celebrities, Weitzman today asked him if DeLorean mentioned their names.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Walsh Jr. and Robert Perry quickly objected and asked for a private bench conference with U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi.

Walsh said later that he wanted to bar the reference to Carson as irrelevant and "scandalous" and considered the question a calculated ploy. After a 10-minute conference, Takasugi told Hoffman to answer.

Hoffman said he told DeLorean that he was a drug smuggler during a chat in DeLorean's living room in April, 1980, and that DeLorean confessed "he had had an involvement with selling drugs for profit." Hoffman said the conversation continued:


Hoffman: "Really?"

DeLorean: "Yeah, with Carson."

Hoffman: "You mean Johnny Carson?"

DeLorean: "Yes."

"The minute he said that to me I didn't believe it," Hoffman said. "I thought it was puffing. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now . . . . I would not have revealed it if I hadn't been forced to."