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Post by Admin on Jan 8, 2020 18:11:05 GMT
Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn slammed the Japanese justice system during his first public appearance since fleeing the country. “I did not escape justice. I fled injustice and persecution, political persecution,” Ghosn said at a press conference in Beruit, Lebanon on Wednesday. “You're going to die in Japan or you've got to get out.” During his speech, he described how he was “brutally taken” from his world as he knew it on the day of his arrest in Japan in November 2018. “I have not experienced a moment of freedom since November 19, 2018. It is impossible — it is impossible to express the depth of that deprivation and my profound appreciation to once again be able to be reunited with my family and loved ones,” Ghosn said. The high-profile auto executive was arrested in November 2018 at the airport in Tokyo on allegations of under-reporting his compensation and misusing company funds. “These allegations are untrue and I should have never been arrested in the first place,” he said. Ghosn, who has maintained his innocence and called the charges against him “baseless,” said his treatment by the Japanese judicial system was a “travesty against his human rights and dignity.” While enduring this “nightmare” imprisonment, Ghosn said his only contact with friends and family was through letters his attorneys showed him through a looking glass.
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Post by Admin on Jan 12, 2020 18:46:45 GMT
A lawyer for former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who fled to Lebanon while awaiting trial in Japan, said his client was questioned an average of seven hours a day without a lawyer present. Takashi Takano said in a blog post Saturday the questioning continued through weekends, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Takano has said he told Ghosn he couldn't expect a fair trial in Japan, but his chances of winning were good because the evidence against him was so weak. Japan's judicial system has come under fire over Ghosn's case. Critics have for years said the prolonged detentions tend to coerce false confessions. Suspects can be detained even without any charges. Japanese prosecutors and Justice Minister Masako Mori have repeatedly defended the nation's system as upholding human rights, noting Japan boasts a low crime rate. Mori said the system follows appropriate procedures under Japanese law, stressing that every culture is different.
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Post by Admin on Jul 24, 2020 7:39:59 GMT
Carlos Ghosn — the ex-Nissan head who made a dramatic escape from house arrest in Japan in December — paid the extraction team half a million dollars worth of crypto.
According to U.S. prosecutors in a court filing, Ghosn’s son arranged for a payment to Peter Taylor — one of the two men who assisted the ex-Nissan chairman in fleeing Japan — of $500,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) through the U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase. Taylor and his father, ex-Green Beret Michael Taylor, smuggled Ghosn out of Japan in a musical instrument case and assisted in his transport from Kansai International Airport in Osaka.
Ghosn reportedly paid the Taylors $1.36 million in total for services related to his escape from Japan and relocation to Lebanon, where he has citizenship. The BTC payments were made in installments from January to May — after Ghosn’s dramatic escape on December 29. Japanese investigators said that Ghosn himself wired $860,000 to a company run by Peter Taylor as part of the initial payment.
The Taylors have been in U.S. custody since their arrest in May at the request of the Japanese government. Ghosn is currently free in Lebanon, which does not have an extradition agreement with Japan.
Escape from Japan Ghosn was arrested and indicted four times in the Asian nation between 2018 and 2019 on charges related to financial crimes at Nissan, resulting in stints of detainment, solitary confinement, interrogations without a lawyer present, and eventual house arrest. His lawyer and others in the country labeled the treatment “hostage justice,” accusing Japanese authorities of forcing confessions through extended detainment.
The ex-Nissan head had been under house arrest in Tokyo since April when the Taylors arrived under the guise of attending a violin concert. Ghosn was free to visit the nearby Grand Hyatt hotel, where he met the Taylors. He was then able to take public transportation from Tokyo to Osaka, where the larger musical instrument case — with Ghosn inside — was loaded onto a private jet bound for Istanbul before taking a second plane to Beirut.
Similarities to Mt. Gox case Ghosn’s case has similarities to that of Mark Karpeles’, the former CEO of defunct crypto exchange Mt Gox.
Both men were subject to Japanese law for alleged financial crimes. Like Ghosn, Karpeles was familiar with the country’s justice system, having spent 11 months in detention himself since his arrest in August 2015. Prior to Ghosn’s escape, the two even spoke in person, a conversation that may have influenced his decision to flee Japan.
However, Karpeles chose to face the system. He was eventually acquitted of major charges related to Mt. Gox but charged with mishandling electronic funds. His latest appeal over the final charge was denied in June.
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