News The Carlos Ghosn saga

In handing down the sentencing, Chief Judge Hideo Nirei said they had committed a serious violation of the law, as now there is next to no chance of putting Ghosn on trial. "This case enabled Ghosn, a defendant of a serious crime, to escape overseas," he said. Although the defense argued the two had been merely used by Ghosn, they clearly were involved, regardless of who was making the decisions, he said. [...] But Nirei, the judge, said the court found that the motive was money. The Taylors can appeal within two weeks, he said. [...] But Nirei said the time they were held before and during trial would not count as time served, saying they were not directly related and should be treated differently. "There is a limit to how much we can consider," he said.

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Nearly three years later, former Nissan executive Greg Kelly is still wondering why the questions that led to his arrest and trial in Japan weren't simply taken up in the automaker's corporate boardroom. Kelly, an American lawyer who worked for three decades for Nissan Motor Co., is awaiting a verdict in his trial on charges of financial misconduct in the case of Carlos Ghosn. The embattled former chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance jumped bail and fled to Lebanon in late 2019, leaving Kelly in Japan alone to face charges of Ghosn's under-reported Nissan compensation. Kelly has denied the allegations. "I don't think any of us were involved in a crime, or a criminal activity," Kelly told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday in his Tokyo apartment, where he is out on bail.

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thomas said:

Three years after his arrest, Greg Kelly still wonders why the Ghosn issue wasn't addressed in Nissan's boardroom. Last Wednesday, he talked to AP:

Ex-Nissan exec Kelly wants boardroom, not criminal, trial

Nearly three years later, former Nissan executive Greg Kelly is still wondering why the questions that led to his arrest and trial in Japan weren’t simply taken up in the automaker's corporate boardroom.

apnews.com

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The judge said Ghosn received both paid and unpaid compensation, and the grand total should have been reported. Kelly was acquitted of charges relating to Ghosn's pay between fiscal 2010 and 2016, with Shimotsu saying he wasn't aware of the unreported remuneration. However, the court found that in fiscal 2017 Kelly was aware that Ghosn's total pay wasn't reported. Ghosn that year received discounted stock options that created a difference in reported compensation of about ¥750 million. The failure to report Ghosn's total pay amounted to "false" reporting in Nissan's financial statements, the judge said. The court also found that Ghosn and Toshiaki Onuma, who ran the secretarial office for Nissan's executives and testified for the prosecution in return for immunity, were aware their actions amounted to false reporting and they conspired together to carry out their actions. After the hearing, Kelly said he was "extremely surprised and shocked" by the verdict, which his lawyers said they would appeal. "I have consistently acted by prioritizing the best interests of Nissan, and I absolutely did not take part in illegal activities," Kelly said in a Japanese-language written statement.

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"While the court gave a not-guilty verdict on the greater part of the allegations, I do not understand why it found me guilty for that one year," he said. "I am innocent of all charges."

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thomas said:

It's been four years since Ghosn's arrest.

Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that Michael and Peter Taylor, the father-son duo hired to assist in Ghosn's escape and extradited to Japan, were sent back to the US to let them serve the remainder of their sentences in the US.

Americans who helped Carlos Ghosn escape Japan are sent back to U.S.

The father and son sentenced to serve time in a Japanese prison for smuggling Carlos Ghosn out of the country were transferred to the U.S. a week ago.

www.japantimes.co.jp

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According to the officials, Ghosn's lawsuit accuses Nissan and the individuals of defamation and of "fabricating charges" against him, which eventually put him behind bars in Japan. The lawsuit was filed last month, the judicial officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the case. The officials did not identify the individuals that Ghosn is accusing.

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thomas said:

Just in: Carlos Ghosn has filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Nissan, and about a dozen individuals in Beirut over his imprisonment in Japan and what he says is misinformation spread against him.




Auto tycoon Ghosn files $1 billion lawsuit in Lebanon against Nissan over his imprisonment in Japan

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Majestic said:

When I read it, I thought it was an attempt by him to put some pressure on the Nissan execs who turned on him. And in my more paranoid moments I imagine that Ghosn has enough money to bribe the Lebanese justice system so that it can make life really inconvenient for some Nissan execs. The Nissan execs do not want to travel to Lebanon to give depositions in a Lebanese court. Maybe Ghosn is hoping he can exert enough pressure on them from his safe haven in Lebanon, so that the Nissan execs will ease up on some of these charges.

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mdchachi said:

Why would they even be compelled to respond?

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Majestic said:

Because if they don't respond, Ghosn wins by default and Nissan's assets in Lebanon may be seized?

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Majestic said:

Because if they don't respond, Ghosn wins by default and Nissan's assets in Lebanon may be seized?

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He had claimed in the past that his human rights were violated, that he was held in solitary confinement for 11 months at Fuchu Prison and that he was tortured. During the video call, Taylor provided more details about his time at Fuchu Prison and gave some insight into how the alleged conditions might have affected others. He noted that the treatment he received during his detention in the facility was not specific to him or to the other foreigners, but that everyone was held under similar conditions. He made clear that he was not singled out despite his crimes and those alleged against Ghosn causing considerable outrage in Japan. But Taylor also said that other inmates deported from Fuchu Prison to a detention center in Los Angeles were so traumatized that they ended up with psychological problems.

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thomas said:

Not directly related to Mr Ghosn, but his "liberator", Michael Taylor, who shared his experiences about detention in Fuchu Prison.


A former U.S. Green Beret says that a recent report in The Japan Times about Fuchu Prison fails to convey the realities of life inside the facility fully. "You know, I think it's a major point that there's no heater. You get frostbite every day," said Michael Taylor, who spent more than a year at the prison in western Tokyo. "That wasn't covered in the article. They didn't tell you about that. During the summertime, you're sweating profusely. You're getting heatstroke because you can't get enough water. All you have is water and little tiny cups, or they give you a cup of tea a couple of times a day," he said in a video call with The Japan Times from his home in Massachusetts in the United States at the end of May.

Man who sprung Ghosn challenges depiction of Fuchu Prison

Michael Taylor, who served part of his sentence at the facility, said he felt the depiction had missed key elements of the 'Fuchu experience.'

www.japantimes.co.jp

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mdchachi said:

I hope Ghosn renumerated him well for his misguided service to him.

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thomas said:

Whatever they'd have received, wouldn't that be considered illegal gains?

Japan tortured me and America did nothing, says Carlos Ghosn accomplice Michael Taylor

DUBAI: A former US Green Beret, who became famous for planning and executing one of the most daring escape plo・・・

www.arabnews.jp

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/19/taylor-ghosn-verdict/

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Looking back on his time in prison in Tokyo, Michael Taylor said in late December he suffered "degrading and inhumane treatment," claiming to have been kept in solitary confinement for 17 months. He also said he was only permitted to take two showers in six months. Taylor was sentenced to two years in prison by the Tokyo District Court in 2021 for helping Ghosn jump bail and escape from Japan hidden in a box on a private jet on 29 December 2019. While imprisoned, Taylor suffered frostbite from being housed in an unheated cell, was allowed to write only four letters per month, and was not permitted to make phone calls to family or friends, even when he received news that his father was about to die, he said. Such treatment violates the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which prohibits the use of torture and other acts of cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment

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Ghosn said Nissan needs to pursue offensive measures, growth and profitability, and argued that his experience makes him the profile best suited to lead such a turnaround. "If there is one person or one profile today who can make it happen, it's mine," he said. "I'm not saying it because I'm arrogant. I'm saying it because of the facts, because I've done it already once. I know the company from all the angles." Ghosn also reflected on events before his arrest and dismissal, saying he should never have accepted a new mandate from Renault's board that was backed by the French state. "This was a big mistake," he said.

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