#Carlos Ghosn wired $862K to American who helped him escape, feds say

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Carlos Ghosn during his tenure with Nissan, long before he became a fugitive
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Fugitive auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn wired nearly $900,000 to one of the Americans accused of aiding his dramatic escape from Japan, the feds said.

The former Nissan CEO sent two payments worth $862,500 in October 2019 to a company controlled by Peter Taylor, who helped Ghosn flee Tokyo for Beirut roughly two months later, federal prosecutors said in a Tuesday court filing.

The feds offered the transfers as further evidence that Taylor and his father, ex-Green Beret Michael Taylor, should remain behind bars while they await extradition to Japan as their lawyers tried to free them from a coronavirus-plagued lockup.

Japanese officials have asked the US to extradite the father-son duo on allegations that they helped Ghosn skip bail while he was awaiting trial on financial-crime charges. Ghosn, 66, has denied the criminal allegations and said he fled “persecution.”

Lawyers for the Taylors asked a federal judge Monday to release them from the Massachusetts jail where they’ve been held for more than six weeks, citing a coronavirus outbreak there. Some three dozen inmates and staff at the jail have caught COVID-19 and one inmate died of the bug last week, according to a motion for the Taylors’ release.

The risk of the virus “is particularly acute for Michael Taylor, who had an earlier lung surgery, which places him at a heightened risk of serious injury or death should he contract COVID-19,” the filing reads.

But federal prosecutors say the wire transfers from Ghosn indicate the Taylors “have the resources with which to flee and therefore should continue to remain detained as flight risks.” Ghosn sent the money from a Paris bank account to Promote Fox LLC, which is managed by Peter Taylor and his brother, according to the prosecutors’ filing.

A federal magistrate judge rejected the Taylors’ attempt to quash the warrants for their arrests but has not yet decided whether to release them on bail.