Former Ghosn Aide’s Trial Finishes With a Declaration of Innocence

Mr. Emanuel was responding at a Senate hearing to Sen. Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.), a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, who said Mr. Kelly was suffering from unfair and barbaric treatment.

Messrs. Ghosn and Kelly were arrested in November 2018 in Tokyo and charged with violating a regulation governing executive pay disclosure. Prosecutors say the two worked together to hide Mr. Ghosn’s compensation.

In their final arguments last month, prosecutors sought a two-year prison term for Mr. Kelly. A verdict is expected next year.

Mr. Kelly has denied wrongdoing. Mr. Ghosn has also said he is innocent, but fled to Lebanon in late 2019 because he said he didn’t believe he would receive a fair trial in Japan.

Nissan was also charged as a company and isn’t disputing the charge. At Wednesday’s hearing, a representative of Nissan apologized for the company’s role in the case. Prosecutors are seeking a fine equivalent to about $1.8 million for Nissan.

During the trial, which started in September 2020, prosecutors presented documents and witness testimony that they said showed a conspiracy by people including Mr. Kelly to disguise Mr. Ghosn’s compensation through methods including a postretirement consulting contract and discounted stock options.

Mr. Kelly testified that those contracts would have been for work performed after retirement and weren’t a means to disguise Mr. Ghosn’s pay for his work as Nissan chief executive and chairman.

Prosecutors relied heavily on testimony by a Nissan manager named Toshiaki Ohnuma, who ran a department that managed Mr. Ghosn’s salary payments. Mr. Ohnuma created documents that broke Mr. Ghosn’s pay into two categories, paid and postponed remuneration. The Nissan manager testified that he shared versions of them with Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kelly denied that he ever saw those documents.

Write to Sean McLain at [email protected]