Nearly five years after his arrest on financial corruption allegations, former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the automaker and others, alleging defamation, slander, libel and the fabrication of material evidence.
The suit was filed through Lebanon’s public prosecutor, according to Reuters. Ghosn has been living in his family’s ancestral homeland ever since pulling off a daring escape from home confinement in Tokyo in December 2019.
In the paperwork filed by his legal representatives, Ghosn said he is seeking “deep damages” to compensate him for the impact his arrest and subsequent confinement had on his finances and reputation. The suit targets two companies, including Nissan. It also names a dozen other individual defendants, including two Nissan board members.
“The serious and sensitive accusations [against me] will linger in people’s mind for years,” the 69-year-old executive said in his new lawsuit.
The fall
Once one of the most powerful and highly respected executives in the global auto industry, Ghosn was initially billed as the savior of a rapidly failing Nissan when he was sent to Japan a quarter-century ago. He spearheaded a $6 billion bailout led by French automaker Renault. He was subsequently named head of the new Renault-Nissan Alliance. Ghosn later announced a bailout of the smaller Mitsubishi, adding it to the Euro-Japanese alliance. He then relinquished his chief executive role at Nissan but remained on as its chairman.
But by the latter part of the past decade there was rising internal friction between the various alliance partners, notably Nissan and Renault. The Japanese automaker chafed at its secondary position and was pressing for greater autonomy, even as Ghosn pushed for a formal merger.
Things came to a head in November 2018 when Japanese authorities boarded Ghosn’s corporate jet after its arrival at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, taking him off in handcuffs. He spent months in a small cell with little more than a mat on the floor, prosecutors filing one charge after another, timed to extend his stay in jail. Eventually, Ghosn was granted bail but faced severe strictures on his movements, even limiting his ability to meet with his wife and children.
According to Nissan and the prosecution, Ghosn committed a series of financial crimes, among other things hiding some of his substantial income and misappropriating company funds.
For his part, the Brazilian-born executive repeatedly claimed he was being railroaded, describing what happened as a “coup” to force him out of Nissan and allow the company to put a Japanese executive, rather than a foreigner, in control.
The flight
In a daring move, Ghosn was smuggled out of Japan in December 2019, hidden in a large box put aboard a private jet. After landing in Turkey he was transferred to another flight going to Lebanon — which has no extradition treaty with Japan covering Ghosn’s alleged crimes.
The executive defended his decision to flee, claiming a “rigged” system was falsely prosecuting him.
But the move was costly for others involved in Ghosn’s escape. Two Americans who organized the breakout were extradited to Japan and tried. A number of others who assisted in Turkey were also prosecuted.
Meanwhile, Greg Kelly, a longtime assistant accused of assisting Ghosn, was tried and convicted in March 2022 but then given a suspended sentence allowing him to immediately return to the U.S.
Ghosn continues insisting on his innocence, a theme picked up in a recent documentary. Nissan, however, has remained firm in its accusations and filed a lawsuit aiming for reimbursement for the losses it alleges.
Ghosn’s claims are substantial. He cites $588 million in lost wages and compensation, and also seeks $500 million in punitive damages.
He asserted in the lawsuit that he “will suffer from them for the remainder of his life, as they have persistent and lingering impacts, even if based on mere suspicion.” What impact the lawsuit might have, even if the Lebanese courts side with him, is uncertain. And he cannot travel out of the country without severe risk. France and Japan both have filed international arrest warrants.
OK, you win! Please pick up your check at the Nissan headquarters in Tokyo.