Two Americans have been jailed for their former assistance in the trial of the ex-Nissan boss in Japan

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Two Americans will serve prison terms for helping former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn flee Japan in 2019. Michael and Peter Taylor have admitted helping Ghosn escape to Lebanon in a metal box. Ghosn has been released on bail and faces trial in Japan for financial misconduct. Something is loading.

A Japanese court has sentenced an American father and son to prison terms for their role in helping to smuggle former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn from Japan to Lebanon in 2019.

US Special Forces veteran Michael Taylor, 60, was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday for helping him escape from a criminal, while his son Peter Taylor, 28, was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison on the same charges. According to the Associated Press.

Taylor admitted in June to helping the former Nissan boss escape on a private jet from Japan where he was facing trial on financial misconduct charges. US authorities arrested the two in Massachusetts in May 2020 and extradited them to Japan in March of this year, according to the Associated Press.

Prosecutors said Michael Taylor met Ghosn’s wife Carole in Lebanon in June 2019 where she persuaded him to help organize her husband’s escape, the Wall Street Journal reported. The younger Taylor met Ghosn during several trips to Japan over the next few months, during which Ghosn funneled more than $860,000 to his marketing firm to fund the plan, prosecutors said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

On December 29, 2019, the elder Taylor traveled with another man, Georges-Antoine Zik, to Kansai International Airport in Osaka disguised as musicians. The Washington Post, citing Japanese prosecutors, reported that the couple brought in a large metal box usually used to carry audio equipment to mask a branch and drill breathing holes in the side.

Read more: Industry leaders say Carlos Ghosn’s transformation from business icon to international fugitive was entirely predictable. But his next act can surprise everyone.

On the same day, Ghosn traveled with Taylor the Elder and Zayek to a hotel near Kansai Airport. Only Taylor and Zeke are seen leaving the building with a metal box. The Washington Post reported that Zick had not been arrested.

The men helped Ghosn get on a private plane from Osaka to Istanbul, and then to Beirut. Ghosn told the BBC in a recent interview that waiting for the plan was “probably the longest wait” of his life. Lebanon, where Ghosn spent time as a child, does not have an extradition agreement with Japan.

“Because of this case, Ghosn, the accused who faces serious charges, was able to escape abroad,” Chief Justice Hideo Neri told the courtroom on Monday, according to the Washington Post, which cited media reports from the court session. “It has been a year and a half since the escape, and there is still no prospect of prosecution. The consequences of this case are very significant.”

Japanese authorities arrested Ghosn in 2018 on charges of financial mismanagement. He is accused of under-reporting his salary over several years and breach of trust, using Nissan’s finances for personal gain. He denies all charges.

Nissan did not immediately respond to an Insider’s request for comment.

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