The two men most central to Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan to Lebanon in December 2019 have been arrested in Massachusetts.
Former U.S. Green Beret Michael Taylor, 59, and his 27-year-old son Peter Taylor were arrested on Wednesday at the request of Japan which issued arrest warrants for the two men in January for facilitating Ghosn’s escape.
Reuters notes that Japanese prosecutors allege the daring escape began on December 28, 2019 when Peter Taylor flew to Japan and met with Ghosn at the Grand Hyatt Hotel for about an hour. The following morning, Michael Taylor flew into Osaka, Japan on a chartered Bombardier Global Express jet from Dubai with another man, George-Antonie Zayek, and carrying two large boxes ordinarily used for transporting audio equipment.
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Later that day, the group met up with Peter Taylor and Carlos Ghosn at the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo and split up. It is alleged that Peter Taylor headed to the airport and flew to China while the others, including Ghosn, jumped on a bullet train and arrived at the Shin-Osaka train station roughly four hours later. They caught a taxi to a nearby hotel where it is claimed Ghosn got in one of the boxes and was wheeled out by Taylor and Zayek. The box went through an airport security checkpoint without being checked and was loaded onto a private jet that first flew to Turkey before going on to Lebanon.
Authorities arrested the Taylors after U.S. law enforcement discovered Peter Taylor had booked a flight from Boston to Beirut departing this Wednesday.
News of the arrests of the Taylors comes less than two weeks after prosecutors in Turkey charged seven other people who helped Ghosn escape, including four pilots, two flight attendants, and an airline executive.
