Two Americans jailed for helping ousted Nissan boss flee Japan

Michael Taylor, 60, who received the heaviest sentence, and his son Peter Taylor, 28, had been on trial since last month in Tokyo in the resounding case that ridiculed Japanese authorities.

Carlos Ghosn managed to escape from Japan hiding in a box of audio equipment.

Michael and Peter Taylor pleaded guilty to the charges and apologized in court, saying they regret their actions.

At the beginning of July, the prosecution was Wanted 2 years and 10 months In prison against Michael Taylor and two and a half years for his son.

Their lawyers demanded suspended sentences, arguing that Carlos Ghosn was the main instigator of the entire operation.

Permanently residing in Lebanon since his trip, the former grand president of Nissan and Renault is beyond the reach of Japanese justice, because the Cedar State does not extradite its citizens.

Taylor’s family was arrested in the United States in May 2020 and then extradited to Japan in March of this year to stand trial.

Another accomplice is still wanted, a man of Lebanese origin named Georges Antoine Zik.

At the end of 2019, Carlos Ghosn was released on bail in Tokyo, with a ban on leaving Japan pending trial for alleged financial embezzlement when he was at the helm of Nissan. He has always claimed his innocence in this case.

On December 29, 2019, after traveling undercover from Tokyo to Osaka by Japan’s high-speed Shinkansen train, he hid in a large box of sound devices punched through small, hidden holes to allow him to breathe.

Consequently, Mr. Ghosn escaped control at Kansai International Airport. Baggage checks were not mandatory at the time for passengers on a private jet.

Meanwhile, the French-Lebanese-Brazilian arrived in Beirut via Istanbul on private jets chartered for the occasion.

In February, a court in Istanbul sentenced three people to more than four years in prison in this case: an official of a Turkish aircraft leasing company, as well as two pilots.