French authors Régis Arnaud and Yann Rousseau have just published a book titled “Le Fugitif: Les Secrets De Carlos Ghosn” – The Fugitive: The Secrets of Carlos Ghosn- in which they revealed in-depth details of the well-accredited escape of Ghosn from Japan to Lebanon.
The authors recounted how American security consultants helped Lebanese businessman and ex-Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn travel from Japan to Lebanon through Turkey.
Ghosn has claimed multiple times his innocence from financial misconduct allegations, while the Japanese judiciary system remains firm on its legal cases against him.
Régis and Rousseau’s book reveals the names of the American security consultants who helped the business giant in the escape.
One of the consultants is said to be Michael Taylor, 59 years old, a former member of Army Special Forces team Green Beret. He is married to a Lebanese woman called Lamia.
Michael Taylor worked at the US Embassy in Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War. According to the authors, he helped train the Lebanese Christian political party and former militia Lebanese Forces in the 1980s under the command of former Lebanese president Bashir Gemayel.
As per the New York Times, Taylor was once hired by the newspaper to assist in the rescue of its reporter David Rohde, who was kidnapped by militants in Afghanistan and held for seven months in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
The New York Times revealed that “Mr. Taylor was indicted in 2012 for his role in a plan to obstruct a federal fraud investigation into bid-rigging of Defense Department contracts.”
The newspaper further explained that Taylor “served time in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud, but the government returned $2 million that had been taken from him, as well as two Land Rovers, according to court records.”
The French book also unveils the name of another American of Lebanese origin called George Al-Zayek, whom Taylor met in Lebanon while training Lebanese Forces fighters.
The book discusses how Taylor and Al- Zayek worked in Afghanistan with an American security force. They participated in the fighting alongside the American army in Afghanistan, as well as in the fighting in Iraq.
In Japan, the two men worked for Carlos Ghosn in a security company wearing civilian clothes so they don’t raise doubts.
According to the book, the preparation of the escape was carried out for a long period of weeks, during which several airports were monitored in Japan to see which was the best for the smuggling process.
The book explains that in April 2019, Carlos Ghosn learned that the Japanese judicial system would most likely not reach a verdict anytime soon.
He believed that he became a prisoner of the bureaucracy and the inability of Japanese judges to make a decision.
After Ghosn spent a day in the corridors of the Japanese Ministry of Interior, during one of his trial sessions, he became convinced that he will remain a prisoner in Japan if he did not manage to flee the country.
During that period, Taylor and Al-Zayek were in Japan preparing his escape operation via a charter jet, operated by Turkey’s MNG Holding. The book reveals that the jet was rented at $350,000 to transport Ghosn from Japan to Turkey.
Ghosn, alongside the two men, got into the private jet using a small and less monitored airport in Osaka. Successfully, Ghosn managed to escape Japan to Turkey, and after that to Lebanon where he now resides.
To note, Ghosn hasn’t been idle in his Lebanon’s refuge. With that particular boldness that characterizes powerful people, he has been preparing to fight back.
His first move has materialized as he has just launched a lawsuit against Nissan Dutch. According to the Nissan defense attorney, “Ghosn has announced a massive offensive of lawsuits with bravado.”
