Michael Taylor and his son Peter posing together in two undated photos taken years apart.
Photo: family handout/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
TOKYO—Japanese prosecutors on Monday formally charged an American father-son team with aiding the December 2019 escape of former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn.
Michael Taylor, 60 years old, and Peter Taylor, 28, were charged with harboring a criminal, an offense that carries a maximum sentence of three years.
The Taylors were arrested in Massachusetts in May 2020 and fought unsuccessfully to block their extradition to Japan. They arrived in Japan on March 2 and since then have been held in a Tokyo jail undergoing interrogation by prosecutors.
Prosecutors said the Taylors helped hide Mr. Ghosn as he traveled from his Tokyo house by bullet train to the Osaka international airport, where he was hidden in a musical-equipment box and flown out of the country on a private jet. At the time, Mr. Ghosn was out on bail and facing trial over financial charges, which he has denied.
The Taylors haven’t denied helping Mr. Ghosn escape, but their U.S. representatives have said that what they did wasn’t a crime under Japanese law.
Write to Peter Landers at [email protected]
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