The two men who orchestrated Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan have pleaded guilty to charges in Japan.
United States Army Special Forces veteran Michael Taylor and his son Peter were in court on Monday and asked by the presiding judge if there were any mistakes in the charges submitted by the Tokyo Prosecutors’ Office. Both said no.
Prosecutors have accused the men of helping Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan in late December 2019. It is alleged that Ghosn’s wife Carole initially sought help from Michael Taylor in mid-2019 and that Carole, as well as Michael and Peter Taylor, were able to communicate with Ghosn through the encrypted messaging app Signal in violation of Ghosn’s bail terms. Prior to the escape, Ghosn sent payments of $540,000 and $322,500 to the bank account of an internet marketing company owned by Peter Taylor.
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According to The Wall Street Journal, after Japanese authorities issued a warrant for the arrest of the Taylors in January 2020, Michael Taylor asked Ghosn for help with legal expenses. Ghosn agreed and sent $500,000 worth of bitcoin from his son’s account to an account owned by Peter Taylor.
The Taylors face up to three years in prison.
For months, the two men waged a battle in the U.S. fighting extradition to Japan with lawyers claiming that they could not be prosecuted for helping someone “bail jump”. Their bid to avoid extradition to Japan failed and in early March, they were taken into custody and flown to Japan to stand trial.
