The ex-Green Beret who aided Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan enlisted his own son to help plan the caper, Japanese prosecutors said Thursday as they issued three new arrest warrants in the case.
The trio sought by Japanese authorities includes Michael Taylor, a former US special forces soldier, and his son Peter Taylor, who met with the ex-Nissan CEO in Tokyo several times last year to plot the getaway, officials said.
The younger Taylor “played an important role in the escape,” deputy chief prosecutor Takahiro Saito said at a news conference, according to the New York Times.
Prosecutors say Peter Taylor handed Ghosn the key to a Tokyo hotel room at their last meeting on Dec. 28 — the day before the 65-year-old fugitive started his journey to Beirut, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Ghosn allegedly went to a hotel in the city the next day, let himself into a room the younger Taylor had reserved and changed clothes before making his way to Osaka, where he flew out of the country, according to the paper.
Officials also want to arrest George-Antoine Zayek, who along with Michael Taylor was reportedly on the private jet that ferried Ghosn out of Osaka. Reports have said Ghosn boarded the jet stuffed inside a black box used to carry audio gear.
All three men are thought to be US citizens and have been camping out in the Middle East since Ghosn fled to Beirut, the Times reported.
Prosecutors also issued an arrest warrant for Ghosn himself, who skipped bail while awaiting trial on financial-crime charges. The former auto honcho has denied the allegations and said he fled “persecution.”
Michael Taylor, the former head of American International Security Corp., is known for helping the New York Times get journalist David Rohde out of Taliban captivity in 2009. But he also spent time behind bars after pleading guilty to wire fraud for allegedly paying kickbacks for $54 million in Defense Department contracts.
Prosecutors also recently searched the office of a former lawyer for Ghosn. Two of his leading attorneys in Japan quit his case earlier this month.
Lebanon and Japan — which do not have an extradition treaty — have a little more than a month to decide whether Ghosn should be sent back to Japan or face trial in Lebanon, Reuters reported last week. Ghosn’s lawyers want the case to proceed in Lebanon, where Ghosn has family ties.
Japanese authorities have also issued an arrest warrant for Ghosn’s fashionista wife, Carole, saying she perjured herself when she was interviewed about her husband’s alleged crimes. Carole Ghosn later called the accusations “a bit of a joke.”
With Post wires
