TOKYO — Japanese prosecutors on Thursday issued arrest warrants for three Americans suspected of helping former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn flee the country, where he was awaiting trial on charges of financial wrongdoing.
Mr. Ghosn surprised the world, and embarrassed Japanese authorities, when he slipped out of his home in Tokyo in late December and turned up a day later in Lebanon.
Prosecutors want to arrest Michael Taylor, a 59-year-old former Green Beret; his son, Peter Maxwell Taylor, 26; and George Antoine Zayek, 60. The warrant said they helped Mr. Ghosn avoid immigration checks and board a private jet in Osaka that took him to Turkey on the first leg of his escape.
They also issued a new warrant for the arrest of Mr. Ghosn, who “illegally left the country” without notifying immigration authorities.
The document was the first official confirmation by Japanese authorities of some of the details of Mr. Ghosn’s flight. Mr. Ghosn himself has shared next to no information about the escape, citing concern about the safety of those who aided him.
According to the warrant, Michael Taylor and Mr. Zayek accompanied Mr. Ghosn from Tokyo to Osaka, nearly 300 miles west of Tokyo, where they hid him in “portable luggage” and helped smuggle him through a private jet terminal and onto a waiting plane where they accompanied him to Istanbul. Mr. Ghosn is believed to have hidden in a large black box typically used for transporting audio equipment.
Michael Taylor is a private-security contractor with extensive contacts in Lebanon dating to the 1980s, when he was deployed to Beirut as part of a team of United States Special Forces.
Mr. Zayek, whose part in the escape was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal, was born in Lebanon and previously worked with Mr. Taylor’s Boston-based security company. The arrest warrant was the first public mention of Peter Taylor’s involvement. All three are believed to be American citizens, prosecutors said. Michael and Peter Taylor and George Zayek have been in the Middle East since Ghosn’s escape, according to a person familiar with the matter. Lawyers for the men could not immediately be reached for comment.
Japan has an extradition treaty with the United States, potentially putting them within reach of Japanese prosecutors if they were arrested by American authorities.
In a news conference, a deputy chief prosecutor, Takahiro Saito, said Peter Taylor had “played an important role in the escape,” having met with Mr. Ghosn at least seven times in Tokyo, beginning last July and ending on the day of his escape on Dec. 29.
Mr. Saito said he believed that the younger Mr. Taylor had been a key conduit for planning the escape, ultimately reserving a Tokyo hotel room for Mr. Ghosn and providing him with the key. On the day of his flight, Mr. Ghosn traveled from his home in central Tokyo to the nearby hotel, where he changed clothes before meeting with the other two men, who accompanied him to Osaka, he added.
After the private jet landed in Istanbul, Mr. Ghosn is believed to have boarded another private jet flight to Beirut. Michael Taylor and Mr. Zayek are suspected of taking a commercial flight to Lebanon; Turkish authorities have released photos showing the two men passing through passport control at the Istanbul airport.
The warrants were announced a day after prosecutors raided the Tokyo office of Mr. Ghosn’s former lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, looking for evidence related to the escape. Speaking to reporters afterward, Mr. Hironaka said that they had tried to confiscate materials Mr. Ghosn had used to prepare his defense, forcing open a door in the office and breaking open drawers and cabinets that they believed might contain relevant documents.
During the raid, prosecutors tried to seize a personal computer used by Mr. Ghosn in Mr. Hironaka’s office. Mr. Hironaka has refused to turn over the computer, citing his responsibilities as Mr. Ghosn’s former lawyer.
Mr. Saito said that Mr. Ghosn had met the younger Mr. Taylor four times in the lawyer’s office.
Since Mr. Ghosn’s flight, prosecutors have worked hard to turn up the pressure on him. Interpol issued a so-called red notice for Mr. Ghosn at Japan’s request, asking that cooperating countries arrest him. Prosecutors have also issued an arrest warrant for his wife, Carole Ghosn, accusing her of providing false testimony about her husband’s case.
For the time being, the couple, who both hold Lebanese passports, are living in Beirut. Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan and a policy of not handing over its citizens to foreign governments.
In Japan, Mr. Ghosn faced charges of hiding his compensation from regulators and using Nissan’s resources for his own financial benefit. But he has strongly denied the allegations, arguing that they were part of a corporate coup intended to thwart his efforts to strengthen Nissan’s alliance with its French partner Renault.
While on bail in Japan, Mr. Ghosn largely stayed out of the spotlight. But since his escape, he has repeatedly lashed out against Japan’s justice system, where he said he had no chance of receiving a fair trial.
Following his surprise arrest in November 2018, Mr. Ghosn said, he was held in solitary confinement for long periods and interrogated for hours without a lawyer.
He was released after posting nearly $14 million in bail. Until his escape, he lived in a home in central Tokyo. As a condition of his bail, authorities monitored his comings and going and forbade him from using the internet outside of his lawyer’s office. Mr. Ghosn was also not allowed to see or even speak to Mrs. Ghosn, except for two brief video calls, because of prosecutors’ concerns that she might help him tamper with witnesses or evidence.
David Yaffe-Bellany contributed reporting.
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2020-01-30 13:02:00Z
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