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Bloomberg
Japanese prosecutors on Monday formally charged two Americans with aiding in the escape of former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who fled trial in Japan over a year ago.
Michael Taylor, 60, and Peter Taylor, 28, helped Ghosn illegally leave Japan in December 2019, where he was facing charges of financial misconduct, prosecutors said in a statement on Monday. The two hid Ghosn and loaded him onto a private jet that later left Japan, they said.
The father-son duo were extradited to the Asian nation earlier this month in a rare win for the Japanese government. If convicted, they face a maximum of three years in prison on charges of harbouring or enabling the escape of a criminal.
The two have been detained in a detention facility in the outskirts of Tokyo, the same one where Ghosn was held two years earlier. There, prosecutors have questioned them without a lawyer present. Rudy Taylor, another son of Michael Taylor’s, said the pair “are being treated well in Japan†in response to a request for comment last week.
In Japan, suspects can be detained for as long as 23 days without formal charges.
The clock was ticking for prosecutors because that period was set to end later this week.
The former Green Beret and his son have never denied their involvement in Ghosn’s escape. Their lawyers in the U.S. had argued, instead, that what the duo did was help an individual “jump bail,†which they argue isn’t a crime in Japan.