#Feds slam ex-Green Beret, son’s attempt to avoid extradition over Ghosn escape

The father-son duo accused of helping Carlos Ghosn flee Tokyo is using a “flawed” interpretation of Japanese law in an attempt to avoid extradition, federal prosecutors say.

Lawyers for ex-Green Beret Michael Taylor and his son Peter contend that the pair’s alleged role in the ex-Nissan CEO’s cinematic escape from Japan did not amount to an actual crime there.

But US prosecutors on Tuesday said the allegations against the Taylors indeed qualify as a Japanese felony. They provided a declaration from a Tokyo prosecutor to back up their claim while authorities await Japan’s formal request for the Taylors’ extradition.

“The purported loophole through which the Taylors seek to evade justice simply does not exist,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

The feds also batted down the Taylors’ argument that a flaw in the Japanese warrants for their arrests should protect them from extradition. Their lawyers argued last week that the warrants only accused them of a misdemeanor immigration violation that isn’t covered by the US’s extradition treaty with Japan.

Tokyo authorities have confirmed that the warrants in fact accused the pair of “harboring of criminals” — an offense covered by the treaty — as well as the immigration violation, according to US prosecutors.

The feds stood by their argument that the Taylors should be jailed while awaiting extradition because they carried out such an elaborate plot to spring Ghosn from Tokyo. The pair allegedly ferried Ghosn inside a black audio equipment box for part of his journey to Lebanon, where he’s been hiding out since late December.

“Logic dictates that the Taylors would go to even greater lengths to avoid their own prosecution,” federal prosecutors said in the court filing.

One of the Taylors’ attorneys, Abbe David Lowell, said their lawyers are reviewing the feds’ filing and “will respond soon thereafter.”

Japan has 45 days from the date of the Taylors’ May 20 arrests to formally request their extradition. Japanese authorities have struggled to bring Ghosn back from Lebanon because the two countries do not have an extradition treaty. Ghosn has denied the criminal allegations against him and said he fled “persecution.”