Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman, wired $862,500 last year to a company managed by one of the two men who later helped him escape from Japan, US prosecutors said in a Tuesday court filing.
The disclosure came less than a day after the men, Michael Taylor and his son Peter Taylor, who are trying to avoid extradition to Japan in connection with Ghosn’s escape, petitioned a US judge to release them on bail.
Lawyers for the Taylors said they have been held for more than six weeks at the Norfolk County Correctional Center in Massachusetts, where 36 inmates and staff have tested positive for COVID-19, based on flawed arrest warrants and extradition requests.
“Neither is a risk of flight and there are undoubtedly conditions under which they can be released,” the lawyers wrote.
Ghosn fled last December to Beirut from Japan, where he had been under house arrest on charges of financial crimes he has denied, by being smuggled in a box to a private jet.
Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan.
Tuesday’s filing in Massachusetts federal court shows wire transfers last October of $540,000 and $322,500 from a bank account in Paris to Promote Fox LLC, a company managed by Peter Taylor and a brother.
The filing does not say how much the Taylors were paid, but prosecutors said it reflects “additional evidence” that they have the resources to flee, and should remain detained as “flight risks.”
Michael Taylor is a US Army Special Forces veteran and private security specialist.
In a ruling on Tuesday, US Magistrate Judge Donald Cabell rejected the Taylors’ bid to quash their arrest warrants, with a written order to follow. He has not ruled on their bail requests.
A lawyer for the Taylors declined to comment on the wire transfers.
US says Ghosn wired money to man who helped him flee Japan
https://arab.news/wwpyn
US says Ghosn wired money to man who helped him flee Japan
- Lawyers for the Taylors said they have been held for more than 6 weeks
- They are trying to avoid extradition to Japan in connection with Ghosn’s escape
US accuses South Africa of harassing US officials working with Afrikaners
- The State Department alleged that Americans had also been briefly held in the raid, which it said the United States “condemns in the strongest terms.”
WASHINGTON: Washington on Thursday accused South Africa of harassing US government employees working with Afrikaners, the white minority to whom President Donald Trump is granting refugee status, in the latest escalation of tensions.
The State Department said that passport information of US officials was leaked and warned in a statement that “failure by the South African government to hold those responsible accountable will result in severe consequences.”
South Africa replied that the allegation was unsubstantiated and rejected “any suggestion of state involvement in such actions.”
The accusations came after South Africa arrested and expelled Wednesday seven Kenyans brought in by the US government to assist in processing Afrikaners seeking to move to the United States.
President Donald Trump’s administration has claimed Afrikaners are victims of discrimination and even “genocide,” which the Pretoria government strongly denies.
South Africa said the Kenyans arrested at a processing center on Tuesday were on tourist visas that did not allow them to work — the type of violation seized on by Trump as he carries out mass deportations from the United States.
The State Department alleged that Americans had also been briefly held in the raid, which it said the United States “condemns in the strongest terms.”
It added that officials’ passport information had been made public.
So-called doxxing, or revealing personal information, “is an unacceptable form of harassment” and puts people in harm’s way, the State Department said.
It did not immediately provide further details on the purported incident.
‘Seeking clarity’
South Africa “noted an unsubstantiated allegation regarding the private information” and was seeking clarity from Washington, the foreign ministry in Pretoria said later.
“We categorically reject any suggestion of state involvement in such actions,” it said in a statement.
The government has already said no US officials were arrested in Tuesday’s raid, which was not carried out at a diplomatic site.
The seven Kenyan nationals who were expelled had violated South African law by working without the correct permits, the foreign ministry repeated.
“The government will not negotiate its sovereignty and the implementation of the rule of law,” it said.
Trump has repeatedly attacked South Africa’s post-apartheid government over what he calls persecution of the Afrikaners, an allegation that had gained ground online with the far-right.
He has been increasingly open on his desire to rid the United States of immigrants other than white Europeans and all but ended the once-generous US refugee resettlement program, which now only accepts Afrikaners among all the world’s people.
The State Department in a separate statement Thursday confirmed it did not invite South Africa to an initial meeting on planning next year’s Group of 20 summit, the first time a member of the bloc is being excluded.
