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Carlos Ghosn escape team jailed in Japan for up to two years

The US father and son team who helped Carlos Ghosn escape Japan and flee to Lebanon have been sentenced to jail time in Japan after a lengthy trial.


The escape of Carlos Ghosn, the disgraced former boss of Nissan-Renault who is now a fugitive in Lebanon, has come at a high price.

While Ghosn is now able to live a relatively normal life in his homeland because Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan, the US father and son team who helped him flee on a private plane – while the former auto executive was hidden in a box – have been sentenced to up to two years in jail.

On Monday 19 July 2021 local time, father Michael Taylor, 60, was sentenced to two years in jail in Japan – while son Peter Taylor, 28, was sentenced to one year and eight months because he had a “supporting role” in the escape plot.

Both men received a reduction of 90 days to each of their sentences because of the time served in detention awaiting trial, according to overseas media reports.

As reported earlier by Automotive News’ correspondent in Japan, Hans Greimel, the father and son pair were arrested in the US (in Massachusetts) and extradited to Japan in March 2021. 

Once they arrived in Japan, the pair were detained in the same Tokyo prison that had once housed Ghosn, Automotive News reported.

Ghosn was eventually able to escape after he lobbied to stay in home detention under supervision.

However, Ghosn one day managed to leave the house undetected and was then escorted by the father and son pair by train across Japan to Osaka, where a private plane was waiting.

Authorities in Japan – who were shocked and embarrassed by Ghosn’s bold escape – had sought a sentence of two years and 10 months for Michael Taylor, and two years and six months for son Peter Taylor, Automotive News reported.

The Taylors are yet to announce any plans for an appeal.

According to Automotive News, the Japanese court heard how Ghosn fled the country on 29 December 2019.

After travelling via Turkey, the trio landed in Beirut on the morning of 30 December 2019. 

Tokyo District Court chief judge Hideo Nirei said Ghosn was only able to escape custody and possible conviction in Japan for his alleged crimes because of the “highly premeditated plan” by the father and son escape team, Automotive News reported.

“It has been one and a half years since the escape and there is still no prospect of a trial. The consequences of this case are very large,” Nirei told the court, according to overseas media reports.

The escape team had pleaded guilty in June 2021 but asked for leniency, claiming to have been misled into believing Ghosn was being tortured by Japanese authorities.

They also claimed they did not know it was illegal to help someone in detention – albeit under house arrest – flee Japanese authorities.

“The judge didn’t buy any of it, contending that they were mostly in it for the money,” wrote Automotive News’ correspondent in Japan, Hans Greimel, who has covered the case from day one and written a book about the saga.

“Of the $US860,000 Ghosn paid them, they used only $US400,000 to charter the getaway jet, and put the bulk of the remainder into their own companies,” Automotive News reported the judge as saying.

Ghosn was originally arrested in Japan back in November 2018 after landing in the country on the Nissan-Renault private jet.

He was accused of financial misconduct and under-reporting his income, serious offences in Japan.

Ghosn initially did two stints in jail over a combined total of 130 days and claims, during detention, he was rarely able to speak to his family or legal advisors.

Eventually, Ghosn was allowed to remain in home detention while awaiting trial. It was here Ghosn slipped the net and fled the country bound for his homeland of Lebanon.

Before Japan even knew Ghosn was missing, he issued a press release on 31 December 2019 revealing he had escaped to Lebanon.

Ghosn has made numerous television appearances since fleeing Japan and has claimed he is innocent of the charges against him and has vowed to clear his name.

A common theme in Ghosn’s plea of innocence is that he was the victim of a conspiracy to oust him because he had gained too much power in the Nissan-Renault alliance, which he led for close to two decades.

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Joshua Dowling

Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of that time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as motoring editor and one of the early members of the Drive team) and News Corp Australia. He joined CarAdvice / Drive in 2018, and has been a World Car of the Year judge for more than 10 years.

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