Two Americans arrested for helping former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn escape

KUALA LUMPUR: Carlos Ghosn, the ex-Nissan boss, has been making it to the headlines for a while now. Ghosn was charged with underreporting his income, abusing the company's funds, and much more. He was arrested on November 18, 2018, which was the beginning of lengthy interrogation and captivity. But later on, he fled from Japan to Lebanon, breaking his bail conditions.

Now on May 20, US authorities arrested two persons on the grounds of helping Ghosn escape. Federal prosecutors stated that former US Green Beret Michael Taylor and his son Peter Taylor facilitated Ghosn’s flight to escape from custody on December 29, 2019, to avoid his indictment. Immediately after the discovery of these two, Japan issued arrest warrants for both along with George-Antoine Zayek, a Lebanese-born associate of the American soldier.

US Marshals arrested the two on the day; they had planned to fly from Boston to Beirut. Later, they appeared before a federal judge through a video conference, wearing orange prison jumpsuits and face masks. Now, the prosecutors ask the judge to deny their bail, stating that they are not only involved in the Ghosn’ escape but also in other issues.

As per the report, all four men met at the Tokyo hotel on December 29. From there, Peter Taylor went to China, and the other three went to Osaka, where they regrouped at a hotel. Later at night, Taylor and Zayek left the room with luggage, including the two large black boxes, and headed towards the airport, and there is no sign of Ghosn leaving the room. 

The complaint says that Ghosn was hiding in one of the two boxes, which were not screened at the airport and were loaded on a private jet. After two days, Ghosn publicly announced that he had escaped to his home country of Lebanon.

And now, Ghosn is currently in Lebanon, a country that does not have an extradition treaty with Japan. However, Lebanese police may bring Ghosn in for investigation, but it seems unlikely that he will be handed over to Japanese authorities.

Also read: Nissan can go bankrupt by 2022, said Carlos Ghosn